LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


O 


Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH. 

Received  October,  1894. 
Accessions  No.  ff?      .      Class  No. 


TEADE    AND    LETTERS: 


(iTfjdr  foundings  ^ ouitfr  tlje  S 


THREE    DISCOURSES, 

DELIVERED    BEFORE    THE    MERCANTILE    LIBRARY    ASSOCIATION    OF 

SAN   FRANCISCO,    AND    PUBLISHED    AT    THE    REQUEST 

OF    THE    ASSOCIATION. 


BY 

W.   A.    SCOTT,    D.D. 


Homo  sum :  humani  nihil  a  me  alicnum  puto. — TERENCE. 


Etenitn  omnes  artes,  quse  ad  humanitatem  pertinent,  habent  quodclam 
commune  vinculum,  et  quasi  cognatione  quadam  inter  se  contiuentur. — Cio. 
i-Ko  ARCH. 


NEW  YORK: 
ROBERT  CARTER  &  BROTHERS, 

No.     530     BEOADWAY. 
1856. 


Entered,  according  to  AcL  of  Congress,  in  the.  jrearlS56, 

BY    CAETEE   &  BROTH  EES, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Southern  District  of 
New  York. 


TEREOTYPED     BY  PRINTED   BY 

THOMAS  B.    SMITH,  E.    O.    JENKINS 

&  84  Beekman-etreet,  24  Frankfort-st. 


t  H  c  a  t  i  0  n  * 


TO 

THE     MEMBERS 

OF   THE 

MERCANTILE  LIBRARY  ASSOCIATION 

OP    SAN    FRANCISCO. 


IN  dedicating  this  little  volume  to  you,  gentlemen,  I  seek 
to  do  honor  to  myself  by  recording  the  distinction  you  have 
conferred  upon  me  by  inviting  me  to  lecture  before  you, 
and  by  expressing  your  approbation  of  my  humble  efforts. 
"  What  is  writ  is  writ,"  but  for  your  sakes,  as  well  as  for  the 
cause,  "I  would  it  were  worthier." 

Yours,  very  respectfully, 

W.  A.  SCOTT. 
SAN  FRANCISCO,  Wth  May,  1856. 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE  I. 

HOMES    OF     TRADE   AND    LETTERS. 

The  East  at  war,  and  the  West  in  peace.— The  Tyre  and  Athens  of  the  Pa 
cific. — Ours  an  age  of  city  building. — Cain  the  father  of  cities. — Sites  of 
cities. — Struggles  of  commerce. — Eesults  in  Great  Britain. — Speeches 
for  Bunkum. — Commercial  revolutions  never  go  back. — Burke  on  "the 
lungs  of  London." — The  base  of  free  institutions  now  too  broad  for  them 
ever  to  be  wholly  lost. — The  warehouse  and  mill  stronger  than  bayonets. 
—Patronage  of  letters  in  great  cities.— Cities  the  depositaries  of  the  spirit 
and  forms  of  national  strength. — History  interpreting  the  designs  of 
Providence  in  regard  to  cities. — Their  influence  on  political  science,  phy 
sical  science  and  the  fine  arts.— The  comforts  of  wealth  contribute  to 
the  length  of  life. — Influence  of  statues  and  pictures. — Cities  and  popular 
education. — Diffusion  of  knowledge. — Agricultural  and  manufacturing 
districts. — City  press. — Elements  of  great  cities. — How  accumulated. — 
Cities  are  a  nation's  SENSORIA.— They  are  the  loved  HOMES  of  men  of 
letters. — Historical  illustrations,  Jerusalem,  Koine,  Paris  and  London. — 
Hope  for  the  future.  ....  11 


LECTURE  II. 

TEADE  AND  LETTERS;  THEIR  CONNECTION  AND  INFLUENCE  ON 
THE  PROGRESS  OF  NATIONS. 

The  American  creed.— The  seed-sowing  time  of  Europe.— Our  Public  Schools. 
—The  earth  never  altogether  without  a  civilized  man.— The  equatorial 
current  saves  Europe  from  frozen  deserts.— The  general  stratum  of  our 
race. — Civilization  of  barbarous  races  always  by  the  introduction  of  a 
foreign  element— Christianity  the  only  element  that  can  satisfy  the 
hopes  of  mankind.— The  cradle  of  the  human  races.— Oldest  navigators 
were  first  patrons  of  letters. — Herodotus  and  the  old  chroniclers. — The 
1* 


CONTENTS. 

Pentateuch. — Man's  first  station  after  the  flood. — First  bargain  a  Cali 
fornia  speculation. — The  camel. — The  original  of  our  expresses, — Influ 
ence  of  rivers. — The  Nile. — Eastern  products  always  in  demand,  and 
their  carriers  have  always  enriched  themselves. — Alexander  the  Great 
the  pioneer  of  the  English  East  India  Company. — Mohammed. — Fairs  of 
Mecca. — Arabs  as  carriers. — "Tadmor  in  the  wilderness." — Discovery  of 
a  passage  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  India. — Portugal,  Florence,  Venice 
Spain. — Productive  industry  essential  as  well  as  commerce. — Holland. 
— "The  fine  arts"  not  the  "whole  duty  of  man." — The  cotton  hand 
kerchief  on  its  mission. — True  elevation  of  a  people  comprehends  all  its 
classes. — How  Americans  can  govern  themselves. — Providence  benefi 
cent  in  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  America. — The  precious  metals 
buying  the  treasures  of  the  East. — The  Augustan  age  of  Egypt  and  of 
the  JTebrews. — Trade  and  the  fine  arts. — Enhanced  importance  of  com 
mercial  integrity  in  our  day — Division  of  labor. — Machinery  and  the 
poor  man  at  work. — Popular  intelligence. — Foreign  and  domestic  trade 
not  antagonistic,  but  must  be  united. — The  newsboy  an  educator. — The 
prevailing  literature  of  any  age  Protean  in  its  style. — Lorenzo  and  Cosmo 
de  Medici. —Their  generosity  and  devotion  to  letters. — Patronage  of 
science  and  letters  by  merchants. — Canton  and  New  York. — Religion  an 
element  of  civilization. — Science  increases  a  nation's  resources. — Prin 
ciples  established. — Examples  of  trading  and  non-trading  nations. — Com 
merce  the  salt  of  life. — The  pathway  of  Empire. — The  influence  of  Cali 
fornia. — The  ocean  wedded,  and  Shanghai  wooing.  .  .  .57 


LECTURE  III. 

HINTS  ON  THE  COMMERCIAL  SPIRIT  OF  THE  AGE. 
The  ancients. — Antiquity  of  commerce — Union  of  commerce  and  agricul 
ture.— The  twins  of  Hippocrates.— Our  "Magna  Charta"  for  Trade.— 
Commerce  not  to  blame  for  its  abuse.—"  The  mutuality  of  self-interest." 
—The  reservoir.— Integrity  of  English  merchants  and  bankers.— Vast 
reach  of  a  dishonest  act. — Enlargement  of  the  commercial  spirit. — The 
"  Westminster  Review"  gives  us  only  two  chapters  in  history :  "  Puritan 
ism''  and  "  Revolution."— The  bridegroom  of  the  Pacific.— Trade  still 
aggressive.— Progeny  expected  from  Anglo-Saxons  in  an  Asiatic  clime.— 
An  experiment. — Commerce  liberalizes  our  views. — Dangers  of  trade : 
reckless  speculation,  absorption,  and  selfishness.— Necessity  of  relaxa 
tion.— Purity  of  conscience  true  strength.— Influence  of  mercantile  asso 
ciations.  .  ....  107 


C  O  N  TENTS. 


Vii 


APPENDIX. 

A. 

THE    ARMY    OF   THE    WAREHOUSE. 

PAGE 

The  "  Iron  Duke"  defeated,     .  ...    185 

B. 

REPUBLICS    AND    LETTERS. 
Dr.  Yaughan  on  Greece. — Florence. — Our  Medici,  .  .  •    136 


COMMERCE   CONQUERING. 
Our  national  airs  in  India.— Present  and  past.— Brisbane  to  the  Earl  of 

Derby.— Fate  of  savage  nations,  .  .  .    189 

D. 

CRADLE  OF  OUR  RACE. 
Heeren's  testimony.— Traditions.— Periodical  migrations,  .  .    141 

E. 

CARTHAGE. 

A  city  of  trade.— Her  navigation.— Influence  on  the  tribes  in  the  in 
terior  of  Africa.— Her  literature.— Her  fall  a  loss  to  trade  and 
letters.— Causes  of  her  fall.— A  warning,  .  .  .  .144 

F. 

ACCURACY   OF   OLD   WRITERS. 
Modern  travelers  verify  credibility  of  ancient  writers,       .  .  .    148 

G-. 

ANTIQUITY   OF   COMMERCE. 
More  trade  and  national  intercourse  among  ancient  nations   than  is 

generally  supposed. — Merchants  of  the  Arabian  Nights,         .  .    149 


VH1  CONTENTS. 

H. 

AUSTRALIA. 
Why  its  natives  so  degraded,  ....  .151 

I. 

ALEXANDER  THE  GREAT,         .....  .152 

J.       . 

MOHAMMED. 
A  traveler  and  a  merchant.— Why  he  succeeded.— Why  Mormonism 

has  gained  a  place  in  the  world,  .  .  .  .  .  .158 

K. 

GOD   IN   TRADE. 
Goodness  of  God  in  distributing  His  bounties.— Salt  and  dates.— Cotton 

and  coal.— The  oases  and  lines  of  travel,  .  .  .  .156 

L. 

CONNECTION  OF  TRADE  AND  THE  FINE  ARTS,  .  .  .  .158 

M. 

KlSE   OF  POPULAR   LIBERTY    IN    CITIES,  .  .  .  159 

N. 

PREJUDICE   AGAINST   TRADE   UNREASONABLE   AND   WICKED. 
The  Turks.— Plato  did  not  allow  good  citizens  to  engage  in  commerce,       161 

0. 

LORENZO    DE   MEDICI. 

A  happy  union  of  the  elegant  and  useful  pursuits.— The  farmer  and 
miner  patrons  of  art  and  letters.— God  prepared  an  asylum  for 
literature.— Favorite  thoughts  of  Lorenzo  de  Medici,  .  163 

P. 

CONSCIENCE  IN  BUSINESS. 

Higginson  on  New  England.— Every  merchant  still  a  man.— King  Fred 
eric's  idea  of  religion.— Cowley's  dilemma.— A  new  reading  of  an 
old  proverb,  •..-...  165 


LECTURE    I. 


^•£^5^ 

'7  El 


HOMES  OF  TRADE  AND  LETTERS.* 

"  The  extreme  regions  of  the  habitable  world  have  received  the  fairest  gifts 
of  nature."— HERODOTUS'  "  THALIA." 

WHILE  the  Anglican  and  Roman  crosses  are  leagued 
with  the  Crescent  against  the  Greek  cross — Britain  and 
Gaul  now  united  to  uphold  the  Turk  whom  they  together 
sought  to  destroy  when  in  the  twelfth  century  their  ban 
ners  were  last  borne  to  the  battle-field  in  concert ;  while 
Europe  and  Western  Asia  are  shaking  under  the  tramp  of 
bannered  hosts,  and  the  bright  blue  waters  of  the  Black 
and  Baltic  Seas  are  stirred  with  the  keel  of  ponderous 
battle-ships,  and  are  echoing  with  the  murderous  thunder- 
ings  of  Sinope  and  Odessa ;  here  at  the  Golden  Gate — the 
great  western  gate  of  this  vast  continent,  so  far  westward 
that  it  looks  boldly  on  the  face  of  the  jeweled  East — very 
different,  more  useful,  and  more  glorious  results  are  being 
achieved.  It  was  a  proud  and  happy  day  for  America, 
when  California,  like  Minerva,  was  born  fully  grown — • 

*  Lecture  delivered  before  the  Mercantile  Library  Association 
of  San  Francisco  in  Musical  Hall,  16th  June,  1854. 


12  IIOMESOFTRADE 

and  with  the  commerce  of  the  great  Pacific,  the  new  and 
long-sought  highway  to  the  Indies,  forming  the  last  link 
in  the  belt  of  civilized  enterprise  which  now  clasps  the 
world,  and  when  with  her  rich  valleys  and  golden  mount 
ains,  from  the  glittering  snows  of  the  Shasta  to  the  burn 
ing  deserts  of  the  Colorado,  she  was  declared  a  new  State 
in  the  confederacy,  under  the  flag  of  Constitutional 
Liberty  and  Representative  Republicanism.  In  the  Holy 
Land  the  hills  may  be  "  everlasting,"  but  they  are  not  so 
here.  This  metropolis  of  commerce  in  its  antecedents 
and  prospects  is  absolutely  without  a  parallel  in  the  his 
tory  of  cities  and  nations.  Here  the  rough  places  are 
made  smooth,  and  the  mountains  are  made  plains.  And 
instead  of  sand-hills,  luxurious  houses,  marble  palaces,  and 
costly  marts  have  risen  up.  Here  I  see  the  surplus  waters 
of  one  of  the  most  magnificent  bays  on  the  globe  con 
quered,  and  long  lines  of  wharves  stretched  out,  burdened 
with  the  rich  and  useful  products  of  all  climes,  and  noble 
ships,  wearing  the  crest  of  every  nation,  locked  to  them,  or 
resting  on  their  bosom.  A  busy,  adventurous,  enterpris 
ing  population  throng  your  thoroughfares,  exhibiting  the 
complexion  and  costumes  of  many  different  lands.  And 
with  wealth  and  intellect,  and  a  bold,  daring  spirit,  I  see 
here  the  taste,  the  refinement  and  elevation  of  character, 
mental  and  moral,  that  ennoble  the  best  portions  of  our 
older  States.  And  all  this,  where  some  five  or  six  years 


AND     LETTERS.  13 

ago,  there  were  no  buildings  better  than  cane  huts,  hide 
houses,  or  canvas  cabins.  Here  I  see  the  loftier,  as  well 
as  the  grosser,  pursuits  of  man,  encouraged.  Here  I  find 
private  and  public  schools,  equal  to  those  of  any  country, 
and  temples  for  the  service  of  the  living  God  with  freedom 
to  worship  Him.  Here  are  established  associations  of 
Christian  young  men,  lyceums  and  libraries,  scientific, 
benevolent,  and  literary  institutions,  and  a  monthly  pe 
riodical  conducted  with  marked  ability,  whose  contrib 
utors  are,  I  believe,  all  your  own  citizens.  Here  I  find 
a  newspaper  press,  which,  in  excellence  of  style  and 
matter,  in  tone  and  ability,  has  astonished  me  more  than 
almost  any  other  thing  in  California,  which  is  itself  a 
land  of  wonders,  and  an  enigma  not  only  to  The  Times, 
the  great  thunderer  of  London,  but  to  the  civilized  world. 
And  if  the  actual  exports  and  the  prospective  commerce 
of  this  city — when  the  great  road  to  the  Atlantic  shall 
have  been  built — and  when  the  wealth  of  China  and 
Japan,  and  the  islands  of  the  sea  shall  be  poured  into 
your  lap,  and  thence  distributed  over  this  entire  continent, 
and  to  western  Europe — when  the  growth  of  the  Pacific 
States  shall  have  as  far  outrun  our  present  conceptions,  as 
the  actualities  of  California  have  surpassed  the  anticipations 
of  1847  and  1849;  if,  in  view  of  all  these  things,  San 
Francisco  is  the  TYRE,  so  when  we  look  at  her  public 
spirit,  and  her  early  devotion  to  public  schools  and  liter- 


14  HOMES      OF     TRADE 

ary  institutions,  we  rejoice  to  hail  her  also  as  the  ATHENS 
of  the  Pacific.  It  was  with  some  such  thoughts  as 
these,  that  I  have  ventured  to  accept  your  invitation  to 
lecture  in  hehalf  of  the  Mercantile  Library  Association, 
and  to  offer  some  thoughts  on  the  RISE,  GROWTH,  AND 
INFLUENCE  OF  GREAT  CITIES  AS  THE  HOME  OF  TRADE  AND 
LETTERS. 

I.  Ours  is  not  an  age  of  iron,  nor  of  brass,  nor  of  gold, 
though  we  are  distinguished  for  our  use  of  the  useful  and 
precious  metals.  It  is  on  the  contrary,  pre-eminently  the 
age  of  machinery,  and  of  city  building,  and  ocean  travel 
ing.  The  history  of  the  rise  and  influence  of  the  great 
cities  of  our  globe  is  the  history  of  the  emergency  of  our 
race  in  each  section  of  our  planet,  from  barbarism  into 
civilization — and  of  course  the  history  of  the  rise  and 
progress,  power  and  fall  of  nations.  Zoan,  Memphis,  Sals, 
Thebes,  Babylon,  Persepolis,  Tyre,  Carthage,  Athens  and 
Rome  were  great  cities ;  but  the  earth  has  never  been  so 
full,  nor  society  so  thoroughly  pervaded  with  the  spirit 
connatural  to  great  cities,  as  at  the  present  time.  Truly 
gold  is 

"  Hoarded,  bartered,  bought  and  sold, 
Stolen,  borrowed,  squandered,  doled  ; 
Price  of  many  a  crime  untold;" 

but  still  gold  is  not  the  only  thought  of  mankind.     There 
are  other  pursuits  and  other  ambitions  than  those  of  filthy 


AND      LETTERS.  15 

lucre.  The  spirit  that  now  broods  over  society  has  grown 
by  slow  degrees,  and  in  the  niidst  of  great  difficulties ; 
but  it  has  eliminated  itself  from  one  prison  hold  after 
another,  until  its  presence  is  nearly  commensurate  with 
that  of  our  race.  Modern  civilization  owes  its  extension 
to  commercial  enterprise,  and  modern  commerce  in  its 
rise  and  progress  is  chiefly  indebted  to  the  powerful 
awakening  of  the  human  mind  at  the  period  of  the  Cru 
sades,  and  afterward  by  the  great  Reformation  of  the  six 
teenth  century,  and  to  the  subsequent  efforts  of  the  Chris 
tian  world  for  the  evangelization  of  heathen  nations. 

The  tendency  of  modern  society  is  toward  building 
large  towns  and  cities.  This  tendency  is  apparent  even  in 
our  newest  States,  but  is  seen  more  palpably  in  the  older 
ones,  and  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  where  the  people 
may  be  said  to  hardly  live  in  the  country  at  all.  This 
city-building  tendency  is  both  cause  and  consequence  of 
agricultural  extension.  It  discovers  itself  in  the  more  gen 
eral  recognition  of  human  rights  acknowledged  in  our  day, 
and  which  is  a  starting-point  in  all  the  movements  of  mod 
ern  society,  and  which  has  eminently  contributed  to  the 
influence  of  congregated  masses.  Great  cities  have  infused 
into  modern  society  an  impulse  to  freedom  and  refine 
ment,  and  a  spirit  that  eminently  favors  equality  of  rights? 
and  full,  and  fair,  and  free  opportunities  for  improve 
ment,  and  for  the  pursuit  and  enjoyment  of  human  happi- 


16  HOMES      OF     TRADE 

ness.  The  opening  of  the  race  of  life  equally  to  all  class 
es  of  men,  and  the  universal  diffusion  of  knowledge  and 
power  is  the  great  object  of  the  society  that  now  is,  and 
will  be  still  more  the  great  object  of  the  ages  to  come, 
Twice  has  our  race  been  indebted  to  cities  for  civilization 
and  civil  liberty.  First,  with  the  rise  of  cities,  civilization 
and  political  institutions  began,  and,  secondly,  in  and  by 
them  were  developed  the  principles  of  independence,  self- 
government,  and  equal  rights  in  the  middle  ages.  In  the 
Bible  we  are  told  Cain  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Nod,  on  the 
east  of  Eden,  and  built  a  city,  and  called  it  after  the  name 
of  his  son,  Enoch.  It  is  strange  that  the  first  man  who 
shed  the  blood  of  his  brother  should  have  been  the  first 
builder  of  cities.  Civilization,  you  know,  is  a  word  that 
comes  from  civis,  a  citizen,  and  dvi§  is  a  citizen  because 
he  dwells  in  a  city ;  and  in  this  way,  Cain  is  the  founder 
of  civilization  subsequent  to  the  expulsion  from  Eden. 
The  origin  of  cities  certainly  belongs  to  the  earliest  period 
of  history. 

Relationship,  man's  innate  love  for  society,  the  necessity 
of  defense  against  wild  beasts  and  more  powerful  neigh 
bors,  together  with  purposes  of  traffic,  led  first  to  perma 
nent  settlements.  The  two  great  objects  of  cities  in 
ancient  times  were  safety  and  trade.  If  security  was  the 
object,  then  the  site  selected  was  generally  the  slope  or 
summit  of  some  lofty  rock,  as  is  seen  to  this  day  in  the 


AND      LETTERS.  1  7 

sites  of  the  old  castles  of  the  Rhine.  If  trade  was  the  ob 
ject,  then  the  bank  of  some  large  river,  or  the  head  of 
some  bay  of  the  sea,  having  a  rich  back  country,  was  se 
lected  as  the  site  for  the  city's  foundation.  In  the  latter 
case,  as  security  for  life  and  property  was  necessary  for 
trade,  so  art  and  labor  were  required  to  provide  the 
means  of  defense,  in  the  shape  of  massive  walls,  and 
strong  military  towers.  As  the  population  of  these  com 
munities  increased,  so  their  wants  and  consequent  trade, 
skill  and  available  force  multiplied.  The  great  capitals 
of  Egypt  and  Asia  were  situated  on  the  banks  of  their 
principal  rivers,  and  defended  by  extraordinary  works  of 
art.  In  a  commercial  and  military  point  of  view,  there  is 
scarcely  on  the  globe  a  more  eligible  position  than  this. 
I  should  say  but  one,  and  that  is  Constantinople,  the  prize 
now  so  eagerly  sought  by  the  great  powers  of  the  world. 
The  All-wise  Creator,  in  his  munificence,  has  marked  out 
this  place  as  the  site  of  a  great  city. 

II.  Ancient  cities  may  also  be  classed  as  either  mili 
tary,  as  Sparta  and  Rome,  or  commercial,  as  Tyre  and 
Carthage,  or  mixed,  as  Memphis,  Thebes,  Babylon,  and 
Nineveh.  In  all  of  these  there  was  a  blending  together, 
more  or  less,  of  the  arts  of  war  and  peace.  The  cities  of 
Egypt,  Assyria,  and  Greece  were  both  marts  of  com 
merce,  and  centers  of  vast  military  power.  And  even  in 
2* 


18  II  O  M  E  S      O  F      T  II  A  L>  E 

ancient  times,  if  commerce  was  not  then  king-,  still  it  was 
more  powerful  and  long-lived  than  despotism.  Empires 
rose  and  fell  with  astounding  rapidity.  But  the  machin 
ery  of  commerce  outlived  the  enginery  of  war.  Military 
rule  often  rose  as  a  mushroom,  and  perished  in  a  night ; 
but  companies  of  peaceful  merchants  such  as  are  de 
scribed  in  oriental  tales,  continued  to  pace  their  way  from 
one  caravansera  to  another,  alike  regardless  whether 
Pharaoh,  Sesostris,  or  Nebuchadnezzar  sat  upon  the 
throne.  They  were  but  little  affected  by  the  change  of 
one  dynasty  for  another.  The  great  military  roads  of 
Babylon,  stretching  from  the  Persian  Gulf  to  the  ^Egsean 
Sea.,  and  from  the  Nile  to  the  Oxus,  were  used  as  the 
highways  of  merchants  long  after  the  soldiers  of  the  gold 
en  empire  had  ceased  to  traverse  them.  Whether  the 
last  conqueror  were  the  "  barbarian  shepherd  king,"  or 
the  more  civilized  Mede,  all  were  sagacious  enough  to  per 
ceive  that  the  wealth  and  power  of  empires  must  be  de 
rived  mainly  from  the  ingenuity  and  enterprise  of  com 
merce  ;  and  accordingly  they  did  not  fail  to  protect  and 
encourage  the  productive  skill  and  extending  trade  of 
their  dominions.  The  same  remarks  are  true  of  the 
Roman  roads  and  of  the  policy  of  the  Caesars.  The  cities 
of  Phenicia  in  their  day,  were  to  the  known  world  what 
the  manufacturing  and  commercial  cities  of  Europe  and 
the  United  States  are  now  to  the  nations  of  the  £>iobe. 


A.JND     LETTERS.  19 

Homer  sung  of  their  arts  and  of  their  enterprise.  For 
many  centuries  they  were  the  great  discoverers  both  by 
lacd  and  sea;  their  navigators  were  found  upon  every 
known  water,  and  their  wares  were  exposed  for  sale  in 
every  market,  and  bartered  in  every  recess  and  hovel  of 
barbarism.  Similar  was  the  trade  of  the  cities  of  Arabia 
Felix,  with  the  empires  and  people  between  the  Helles 
pont  and  Cape  Comorin.  Africa  and  Asia  also  were 
their  neighbors,  and  with  them  they  carried  on  constant 
commercial  intercourse.  And  the  result  was,  that  the 
narrow  strip  of  the  great  Arabian  peninsula  where  this 
great  commercial  people  dwelt,  from  being  a  wilderness 
became  a  garden,  and  their  houses  and  public  buildings 
were  adorned  with  the  wrorks  of  art  like  palaces,  whose 
ruins  are  now  visited  among  the  greatest  wonders  of  the 
world.  By  means  of  their  commerce  they  derived  wealth 
and  civilization  from  the  older  and  more  powerful  nations, 
and  the  looms  and  dyes  of  Babylon  outvied  the  power  of 
her  kings.  The  cities  of  Egypt  and  Asia,  however,  know- 
nothing  of  the  institutions  of  popular  intelligence  and  suf 
frage,  which  at  a  later  period  adorned  ancient  Greece, 
and  now,  with  a  thousandfold  increased  influence,  vigor, 
and  purity,  pervade  a  portion  of  Europe  and  America. 
Even  oriental  merchant  cities  possessed  very  little  of  the 
principle  of  self-government.  In  passing  through  their 
streets,  the  largest  mass  of  people  to  be  seen  were  slaves 


20  HOMESOFTRADE 

engaged  in  the  labors  of  city  traffic,  and  offic.es  of  domes 
tic  servitude.  Mixed  with,  these  were  a  few  country  farm 
ers,  selling  their  produce.  The  luxuries,  the  wealth,  the 
refinement,  and  the  power  were  in  the  hands  of  a  few. 
Tyre  had  but  little  foreign  commerce,  but  was  a  great 
manufactory.  Holy  Scripture  informs  us  that  king  Solo 
mon  sent  year  by  year  to  that  city,  twenty  thousand 
measures  of  wheat,  and  twenty  measures  of  pure  oil,  in 
exchange  for  firs  and  cedars.  Its  inhabitants  were  mer 
chants,  priests,  soldiers  and  sovereigns,  with  weavers, 
traders  and  workmen,  donkeys,  dogs,  and  camels ;  yet 
she  was  "  filled  with  wisdom,  and  understanding,  and 
cunning  to  work  all  works  of  brass." 

III.  Commerce,  manufactures,  and  agriculture,  have,  in 
a  great  measure,  taken  the  place  of  feudal  wars,  and  semi- 
barbarous  fetes.  The  feudal  and  the  military  have  given 
place  to  the  commercial  and  civic.  For  several  centuries 
the  forms  and  the  spirit  which  characterize  modern  socie 
ty,  have  been  making  their  way  into  the  place  of  those 
which  were  characteristic  of  society  in  the  middle  ages. 
In  Europe,  the  ancient  and  modern  states  of  society  are 
represented  by  the  landlord  class,  and  the  mercantile 
class.  Aristocracy,  royalty,  and  church  establishments, 
supported  by  the  State,  are  the  incorporation  of  what  re 
mains  of  the  form  and  spirit 'of  remote  times.  And  in  no 


AND     LETTERS.  21 

part  of  Europe  is  the  struggle  between  the  feudal  and 
the  civic,  so  prevailing,  so  organized,  and  so  determined 
as  in  England.  In  no  other  Protestant  country  are 
there  so  many  and  so  great  inconsistencies,  and  such 
palpable  contrasts  as  in  Great  Britain.  In  no  other 
country  is  there  so  great  wealth,  luxury,  intelligence, 
and  magnificence,  in  such  close  proximity  with  ignorance, 
degradation,  and  vice.  Great  Britain  is  incomparably  the 
greatest,  richest,  best-governed  nation  in  Europe ;  yet  it 
were  difficult  to  find  greater  depravity,  ignorance,  and 
vice  on  the  globe,  than  prevails  in  the  streets  of  Glasgow 
and  London.  In  no  other  Protestant  country  is  there  so 
great  a  hierarchy,  and  so  wealthy,  intelligent,  numerous, 
and  powerful  an  aristocracy ;  and  in  no  part  of  the  globe, 
except  in  our  own  country,  is  there  a  commercial  power 
embodying  so  fully  the  spirit  of  the  age,  as  in  England. 
And  every  fresh  accession  to  the  strength  of  the  com 
mercial  party,  becomes  the  occasion  of  a  deeper  jealousy 
and  of  a  more  active  hostility  on  the  side  of  the  parties 
adhering  to  the  ancient  order  of  things.  Every  new  spin 
ning  jenny,  and  locomotive,  and  ton  of  railroad  iron  that 
is  ordered  from  the  shops  and  warehouses  of  England,  is 
an  addition  to  the  modern  spirit  of  society.  Lord 
Brougham  said  in  his  remarkably  able  speech  in  1811,  on 
the  "  Order  in  Council" — "  Circumstanced  as  the  two 
countries  are,  I  use  no  figure  of  speech,  but  state  the  sim- 


22  HOMES     OF     TRADE 

pie  fact,  when  I  say,  that  not  an  ax  falls  in  the  woods  of 
America  which  does  not  put  in  motion  some  shuttle,  or 
hammer,  or  wheel  in  England."  (P.  454,  vol.  i.,  Speech 
es.)  There  is  at  every  great  era  of  the  history  of  the 
world,  a  leading  principle,  which  gives  direction  to  the 
fortunes  of  nations,  and  the  characters  of  distinguished 
men.  This  principle  in  our  times,  is  that  of  the  action 
and  re-action  upon  each  other  of  Europe  and  America,  for 
the  advancement  of  free  institutions,  and  the  promotion 
of  national  liberty.  Ever  since  the  discovery  of  America, 
this  principle  has  been  in  operation,  but  naturally  and 
necessarily  with  vastly  increased  energy,  since  the  growth 
of  an  intelligent  population  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
The  restlessness  of  our  times,  and  the  fierceness  of  party 
strife  —  even  the  murmurings  of  one  nation  against 
another,  is  evidence  of  healthful  activity.  Where  there 
is  no  life,  there  will  be  no  movement.  The  strag 
glings  and  overactings  of  some  portions  of  modern  soci 
ety,  is  evidence  of  the  depths  of  its  breathings.  They  are 
signs  of  life,  struggling  to  throw  off  some  unhealthy  ac 
cretions,  but  of  life  that  is  youthful  and  vigorous.  Where 
there  is  great  vigor,  there  will  be  action,  and  thinking, 
and  diversity  of  opinion,  both  as  to  what  should  be  done, 
and  the  best  method  of  doing  it.  The  many  months  that 
our  legislators  spend  making  speeches  at  so  much  per 
diem,  are  not  lost.  It  is  a  great  blessing  to  the  country. 


A  X  D      L  E  T  T  E  E  S.  2  3 

It  is  a  great  relief  to  the  gentlemen  themselves  to  be  de 
livered  of  superfluous  excitement,  and  it  is  necessary  to 
their  constituents.  It  will  sometimes  happen  that  a  mul 
titude  of  words  darkens  counsel ;  but  generally  by  much 
speaking  is  much  light.  Not  a  speech  is  lost.  It  has  its 
mission  to  fulfill.  A  man's  neighbors  will  read  his 
speech,  when  they  will  not  read  any  thing  else.  And  I 
should  reckon  it  a  something  gained  for  society,  if  every 
American  constituent  should  read  one  speech  a  year,  even 
if  it  were  made  for  Bunkum.  For  it  can  riot  be  conceived 
that  any  speech  could  bs  read  without  exciting  a  thought 
of  some  kind,  and  the  simple  exciting  of  any  mind  to  the 
perpetration  of  a  thought  is  an  impulse  toward  something 
better.  Wherever  there  is  thinking,  there  is  hope  of  im 
provement.  I  am  decidedly  in  favor  of  legislators  making 
speeches  to  their  constituents,  even  if  the  reporter  writes 
them.  Any  thing  that  agitates  the  mass  of  mind — that 
leads  the  people  to  think,  to  read,  to  examine,  and  to  act 
for  themselves,  is  of  vast  moment  in  such  a  country  as 
ours.  It  is  only  under  a  despotism  that  men  can  neither 
move  nor  mutter.  It  is  under  such  a  government  that  all 
public  feeling  and  popular  intelligence  are  smothered  to 
death,  and  the  people  are  left  sitting,  quietly,  it  may  be, 
but  it  is  the  quietness  of  dejection,  the  sullenness  of  de 
spair,  the  lethargy  of  death.  There  is  no  paradox  in 
saying  that  the  most  captious,  hard  to  please,  grumbling 


24  HOMES      OF     TRADE 

nation,  is,  after  all,  the  most  moral  and  the  most  free.  In 
spite  of  the  contempt  which  Napoleon  sought  to  cast  upon 
Great  Britain,  when  he  called  her  a  "  nation  of  shop-keep 
ers,"  his  loftiest  efforts  of  genius  were  directed  toward  the 
pulling  down  of  those  shops,  the  arresting  of  her  looms, 
and  the  crippling  of  her  commerce,  and  in  the  fruitless 
but  most  gigantic  scheme  to  make  Antwerp  the  London 
of  the  world.  And  never  was  there  a  moment  when 
the  commercial  interests  of  England  were  so  great  as  at 
present,  and  never  was  her  wealth,  power,  influence,  and 
domestic  happiness  greater.  The  growth  of  her  great 
cities  is  the  result  of  her  commerce ;  and  her  commerce 
is  the  result  of  her  home  industry,  skill  in  machinery, 
and  enterprise  in  trade ;  and  these  agencies  in  turn 
have  built  her  large  towns,  which,  in  their  turn,  op 
erate  upon  the  intelligence,  agriculture,  manufactures, 
morals,  and  piety  of  the  nation.  It  is  because  Great  Brit 
ain  is  the  HOME  of  great  cities,  that  she  is  the  greatest 
commercial  power  on  the  globe,  and  is  secure  in  the  pos 
session  of  her  greatness  in  nearly  all  other  respects. 
So  glorious  is  the  progress  of  knowledge,  so  triumphant 
the  onward  progress  of  civil  liberty,  so  diffusive  the  spirit 
of  Christianity,  and  so  broad  the  base  of  modern  civiliza 
tion,  that  the  shadows  of  coming  events  of  good  things  are 
already  descending  upon  the  nations  of  the  earth.  The 
spirit  of  our  age  will  have  its  way.  There  will  be  no  re- 


AND     LETTERS.  25 

trocession  in  the  march  of  revolutions,  however  much  the 
sun  may  seem  to  go  back  on  the  dial  of  freedom.  A 
band  of  iron  is  making  which  is  to  be  welded,  and  hold 
within  its  circle  a  world  with  no  other  conflicts  but  those 
of  genius,  and  no  weapons  but  those  of  honest  rivalry,  and 
no  institutions  but  those  of  freedom  and  Christianity. 

For  weal  or  woe,  a  revolution  in  favor  of  the  com 
mercial  and  civic  states  of  society  has  been  begun,  that 
can  never  go  back.  And  of  this  revolution  cities  are  the 
palpable  flesh  and  blood,  or  at  least  the  brick  and  mortar 
embodiments.  They  are  the  triumphal  columns  of  the 
victory  of  liberal  principles  over  the  rudeness  and  military 
power  of  feudal  ages,  and  the  priestly  arts  of  the  debasing 
superstitions  of  former  times.  The  jealousy,  envy,  and 
prejudices  then  that  would  blot  them  out  of  existence  as 
but  little  better  than  concretions  of  ignorance,  vice,  and 
irreligion — and  that  would  remove  them  from  the  body 
politic  as  "unsightly  wens,"  belong  to  the  little, "one-sided, 
one-eyed,  narrow,  contracted,  mean,  and  pusillanimous 
spirit  of  the  semi-barbarous  ages  that  have  long  since 
gone  down  the  sky  to  the  regions  of  eternal  night. 

It  was  once  happily  said  by  Burke,  whose  eloquence 
and  wit  were  surpassed  only  by  his  learning  and  philoso 
phy,  when  pleading  for  the  parks  and  public  squares  of 
London  against  the  littleness  of  soul  and  the  greediness 
of  avarice  that  sought  to  convert  them  into  shops  and 


26  HOMES      OF      TRADE 

warehouses :  "  that  they  were  the  lungs  of  London,  and 
the  Thames  its  great  artery."  Keeping  up  the  figure,  we 
would  say,  great  cities  are  the  lungs  of  modern  society, 
and  steam  navigation  its  great  artery.  Large  towns  are 
the  breathing  apparatus  of  the  last  and  best  forms  of  civ 
ilization. 

Philosophy  teaches  us  that  the  broader  the  base  of  a 
pillar,  the  stronger  the  foundation,  and  the  higher  the 
apex  of  the  shaft  may  rise.  On  this  rule,  then,  we  can 
not  doubt  as  to  the  permanence  of  Republican  Institu 
tions,  and  the  complete  triumph  of  the  great  principles  in 
fused  into  modern  society  by  Christianity.  "  The  area  of 
freedom"  is  becoming  so  wide — the  base  of  modern  civili 
zation  so  broad,  that  nothing  short  of  the  annihilation  of 
a  large  part  of  our  race,  and  the  total  oblivion  of  man's 
noblest  achievements  for  six  thousand  years,  can  drive 
mankind  back  to  the  darkness  and  despotism  of  former 
ages.  Time  was  when  civilization  was  confined  to  Jews, 
Egyptians,  Greeks  or  Romans;  and  when  their  country 
fell  respectively  beneath  the  stroke  of  barbarians,  then 
civilization  was  well-nigh  blotted  out  from  the  world. 
But  it  is  not  so  now.  If,  by  any  revolution  of  things, 
Europe  should  go  back  to  skins  and  acorns,  the  monkey- 
like  Paradise  state  of  the  human  race,  that  so  much  de 
lights  some  of  our  savans  ;  and  if  St.  Petersburg  should 
be  sacked  and  given  to  the  plunder  of  the  Turk ;  if  Vi- 


A.  ND      LETTERS.  27 

enna,  Paris  and  London  should  fall  into  ruins  and  become 
as  Thebes,  Palmyra,  and  Nineveh  now  are,  still  America 
would  be  left  for  the  preservation  of  arts  and  arms,  com 
merce  and  religion.  And  if  America  should  be  tossed  by 
civil  commotions  or  endangered  by  the  invasions  of  hos 
tile  and  barbarous  foes,  her  children  embodying  the  spirit 
of  their  fathers,  as  the  seed  for  new  generations,  would 
take  up  their  abode  in  the  islands  of  the  sea,  bearing  with 
them  their  civilization  and  arts,  as  JEneas  bore  old 
Anchises  from  the  walls  of  burning  Troy.  In  spite  of 
kingcraft  and  priestcraft,  of  ignorance  and  despotism,  of 
earth  and  hell,  I  believe  in  the  ever  onward,  upward, 
hopeful  view  of  our  race.  The  highest  form  of  human 
civilization,  and  the  most  perfect  state  of  civil  liberty,  is 
that  in  which  man  was  created — in  the  image  and  after 
the  likeness  of  the  ever-blessed  God — and  as  the  Gospel 
prevails  and  restores  man  to  that  image,  so  the  base  of 
true  freedom  will  become  as  wide  as  the  world,  and  its 
top  shall  reach  unto  heaven — to  the  throne  of  the  Eternal 
— and  the  angels  of  God  will  come  down  to  sing  the 
paeans  of  universal  victory  over  selfishness,  bigotry,  igno 
rance  and  oppression,  in  the  temple  built  by  Liberty's 
devotees. 

IV.  Notwithstanding  the  present  war  of  the  great  na 
tions,  the  commercial  spirit  is  gaining  over  the  warlike. 


28  HOMES      OF     TRADE 

The  producer  is  superseding  the  destroyer.  Poeice  hath 
had  her  heroes  no  less  than  war.  A  half  century  ago, 
causes  more  trifling  than  the  marriage  of  Louis  Napoleon 
would  have  produced  a  war  between  England  and  France. 
The  fishery  question,  the  boundary  question,  the  Sand 
wich  Islands,  the  Mosquito  kingdom,  Cuba,  the  Black 
Warrior  affair,  and  the  costume  regulations  of  the  Secre 
tary  of  State,  would  have  plunged  us  into  war  before  this, 
but  for  the  influence  of  commercial  interests.*  Such  is 
the  progress  of  freedom  in  thought,  and  in  government, 
and  in  trade,  and  so  large  the  liberality  of  sentiment  char 
acteristic  of  our  times,  that  the  army  of  the  warehouse 
prevails  over  the  army  of  the  bayonet.  The  ledger  of 
Christian  counting  houses,  express  offices  and  insurance 
companies,  is  converting  the  sword  into  the  plowshare. 
The  power  of  the  feudal  lord  has  paled  before  the  intelli 
gence  of  the  Christianized  farmer.  But  as  the  forest  is 
subdued,  and  agriculture  advances,  and  commerce  in 
creases,  and  nations  are  bonded  together  by  intercourse 
and  trade,  so  will  ships  multiply  and  roads  be  constructed, 
and  large  towns  grow  up,  and  the  inhabitants  of  our 
globe  be  emancipated  from  political  and  social  vassalage. 

Philosophers,   and  cabinets,  and  inonarchs,  are  begin 
ning  to  see  that  science  is  lending  her  influence  in  many 
powerful  forms  for  effecting  this  great  result     The  new 
*  See  Appendix  A, 


AND     LETTERS.  29 

and  speedy  communication  between  great  cities  in  Europe 
and  Asia,  and  between  Europe  and  Asia  and  Amer 
ica,  will  necessarily  tend  to  swell  the  large  towns  into 
still  greater  magnitude,  and  to  diminish  the  weight  of 
the  smaller  intervening  places,  and  the  social  influence 
of  the  country  population.  Every-where,  in  Europe 
and  America,  there  is  a  prevailing  disposition  to  con 
verge  upon  great  points.  Large  towns  are  increasing 
in  number,  and  absorbing  all  the  smaller  within  their 
vicinity.  Investments  in  villages  and  small  towns 
are  so  hazardous  that  they  have  nothing  better  than 
a  nominal  value.  This  may  be  unwise  and  perilous,  but 
it  is  so,  nor  do  we  see  the  slightest  prospect  of  a  change, 
nor  do  we  believe  that  it  will  ever  be  otherwise  for  any 
considerable  period  of  time. 

Modern  Europe  is  the  offspring  of  the  feudal  system 
that  grew  up  amidst  the  ruins  of  ancient  civilization. 
The  transition  of  power  from  the  hands  of  the  victims  of 
corrupt  civilization  to  the  ruder  but  stronger  grasp  of  the 
Northern  barbarians,  produced  but  little  change  on  the 
towns  and  cities  of  Europe.  The  spirit  of  popular  liberty, 
inherent  in  the  Gothic  institutions  of  the  new  settlers, 
readily  blended  with  something  of  the  former  policy  and 
jurisprudence.  The  bonds  of  society  were  soon  so  &r  re 
placed  that  life  and  health  began  slowly  to  return.  Dur 
ing  the  darkest  ac;es,  something  of  social  refinement  and 


30  HOMES      OF     TRADE 

of  the  elements  of  improvement  remained  in  the  large 
towns  and  cities,  and  in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  cen 
turies,  came  the  practice  of  granting  charters  to  boroughs 
and  cities,  and  from  that  time  the  principles  of  self-gov 
ernment  in  our  municipal  system  became  more  defined, 
more  fully  recognized,  and  better  understood.  The  Ro 
mans  built  colonial  cities  in  Gaul,  Africa,  Spain,  Germany 
and  Switzerland,  under  Augustus  and  his  predecessors, 
many  of  which  exist  to  this  day.  Charlemagne,  from  a 
strong  desire  to  civilize  the  Germans,  and  cement  his  em 
pire  together,  compelled  many  of  them  to  live  in  cities. 
Henry  the  Firsfc  distinguished  himself  so  much  on  account 
of  his  zeal  in  building  cities,  and  granting  them  privileges, 
that  he  has  been  called  Henry  the  city  builder.  The 
power  and  growth  of  the  cities  broke  down  the  feudal 
system.  In  many  of  the  large  cities,  castles  were  erected 
to  protect  the  inhabitants,  and  the  cruel  oppression  of  feu 
dal  laws,  and  wandering  knights  and  robbers,  drove  many 
of  the  peasants  to  reside  in  cities.  This  gave  rise  to 
greater  trade  and  to  the  cultivation  of  the  various  arts 
within  their  walls.  And  as  several  neighboring  lords 
sometimes  leagued  together  for  the  subjugation  of  a  city, 
so  cities  sometimes  leagued  together  to  resist  their  at- 
tacksj  and  the  result  of  the  contest  was  generally  in  favor 
of  a  popular  government.  The  people  of  such  towns, 
choosing  their  own  rulers,  retaining  their  own  keys,  and 


AND     LETTERS.  31 

enacting  their  own  laws,  soon  began  to  understand  the 
doctrine  of  self-government,  and  the  principles  of  repre 
sentation — a  principle  that  had  no  place  in  the  free  gov 
ernments  of  antiquity.  As  early  as  the  reign  of  Edward 
III.,  English  boroughs  were  deemed  of  sufficient  import 
ance  to  send  members  to  Parliament,  along  with  the 
knights  of  the  shield,  and  both  sat  together,  constituting 
conjointly,  the  second  house  of  the  British  legislature. 
Not  less  than  seventy  times  during  his  reign  were  the  rep 
resentatives  of  boroughs  assembled  with  the  knights  in 
a  legislative  capacity.  There  was,  however,  but  a  feeble 
approach  in  the  Amphyctionic  council  and  the  Achaean 
league  of  the  Greeks,  to  any  thing  like  the  representative 
system  of  the  British  House  of  Commons,  and  the  Repub 
lican  Representation  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States. 

As  the  immediate  object  of  commerce  is  gain,  commer 
cial  states  are  always  reluctant  to  engage  in  war.  All 
the  glory  of  all  the  victories  to  be  gained  by  the  com 
bined  fleets  and  armies  of  France  and  England  will  not 
satisfy  the  merchants  of  those  countries.  So  intimate 
and  philosophical  is  the  connection  between  commerce 
and  political  freedom,  that  it  is  not  too  much  to  say, 
that  the  treasure,  as  well  as  the  blood  of  our  ancestors, 
is  the  price  of  our  liberties.  The  principles  of  independ 
ence  and  self-government  ascend  from  the  city  to  the 


32  HOMES      OF     TRADE 

Senate ;  from  the  chamber  of  commerce  to  the  heads  of 
the  departments  of  the  State  and  of  the  Treasury.  The 
more  fully  and  intelligibly  the  principles  of  independence 
and  self-government  are  acted  upon  in  the  towns  and  cit 
ies  of  a  nation,  the  more  generally  will  the  people  become 
interested  in  its  affairs,  and  the  greater  is  the  probability 
that  statesmen  will  regulate  their  conduct  by  prin 
ciples  that  will  abide  the  severest  scrutiny.  When  the 
spirit  and  forms  of  constitutional  liberty  are  localized 
in  neighborhoods  and  cities,  we  have  the  best  possible 
guaranty  against  their  being  centralized  at  the  seat  of 
government.  "  It  has  been  found  necessary,"  says  Curran 
in  his  speech  on  the  election  of  Lord  Mayor  of  Dublin  in 
17 TO,  "to  establish  at  least  some  few  incorporated  bod 
ies,  to  serve  as  great  depositories  of  popular  strength."  In 
Great  Britain  he  informs  us  the  importance  of  such  repos 
itories  has  long  been  understood,  and  "hoarded  up  with 
the  wisest  forecast  and  preserved  with  a  religious  rever 
ence  as  an  unfailing  resource  against  those  times  of  storm, 
in  which  it  is  the  will  of  Providence  that  all  human  af 
fairs  should  sometimes  fluctuate ;  and  as  such,  they  have 
been  found  at  once  a  protection  to  the  people,  and  a  se 
curity  to  the  government,"  The  intelligence  and  social 
virtue  of  localized  forms  of  popular  government  in  cities, 
seems  to  serve  the  same  purposes  of  protection  and  secur 
ity  both  for  the  people  and  the  general  government,  that 


AND     LETTERS.  33 

a  nucleus  of  a  few  thousand  regular  soldiers  do  for  the  for 
mation,  discipline,  encouragement,  and  comfort  of  new 
volunteers. 

The  errors  of  enlightened  and  free  cities  in  matters  of 
general  government,  if  err  they  should,  are  only  specks 
that  arise  for  a  moment  upon  the  surface  of  a  splendid 
luminary ;  consumed  by  its  own  heat,  or  irradiated  by  its 
own  light,  they  soon  disappear,  as  our  cities  soon  renew 
themselves  after  the  ravages  of  a  fire ;  but  the  perverseness 
of  an  uneducated  mass  of  mean  and  narrow  intellect,  with 
out  social  habits  and  the  kindly  humanizing  effects  of  close 
and  intimate  society,  are  like  the  excrescences  that  grow 
upon  a  body  naturally  cold  and  dark — no  fire  to  waste 
them,  and  no  ray  to  enlighten  ;  they  assimilate  and  coal 
esce  with  those  qualities  congenial  to  their  nature,  and  ac 
quire  an  incorrigible  permanence  in  their  union  with 
kindred  frost,  and  kindred  opacity.  It  is  only  where  men 
are  congregated  in  masses,  and  are  subjected  to  the  stimu 
lus  of  each  others'  sympathies  and  rivalries,  and  are 
brought  under  the  influence  of  discipline  and  social  virtues, 
and  the  humanizing  effects  of  civilization,  and  the  refine 
ments  of  education  and  wealth,  that  they  have  opinions 
worth  contending  about,  and  that  the  great  questions  be 
longing  to  good  government  find  their  birthplace  and  ad 
vance  toward  maturity. 


34  HOMES      OF     TRADE 

"  By  mutual  confidence  and  mutual  aid 
Great  deeds  are  done,  and  great  discoveries  made , 
The  wise,  new  prudence  from  the  wise  acquire, 
And  one  brave  hero  fans  another's  fire." — POPE'S  HOMER. 

V.  If  the  designs  of  Providence  in  regard  to  great  cit 
ies  can  be  learned  from  their  history  and  influence  on 
their  respective  territories,  it  is  clear  that  they  are  power 
ful  AGENTS  for  whatever  Providence  has  designed  man  to 
do  upon  earth.  Human  agency  is  necessary  to  keep  the 
earth  from  degenerating  into  a  monstrous  wilderness, 
fruitful  in  every  rank  production,  and  every  unclean  thing. 
In  the  command,  then,  to  multiply  and  fill  the  earth,  and 
till  the  land,  was  included  a  command  to  build  cities. 
The  wandering  hordes  of  Mongolians  and  Tartars  spread 
over  the  vast  flats  of  Central  Asia,  from  earliest  times  to 
the  present,  and  the  aborigines  of  Germany,  Great  Britain, 
and  America,  and  the  Indians  of  your  own  mountains  are 
examples  of  what  man  is,  and  what  he  will  be,  without 
cities.  The  ancient  people  of  God,  in  Judea,  and  ancient 
Egypt,  Phenicia,  Greece,  and  Rome,  with  their  arms, 
arts,  and  letters,  and  modern  Europe,  and  the  populous 
educated  States  of  America,  are  examples  of  what  men 
are,  and  may  become  under  the  humanizing  and  elevating 
influence  of  great  cities.  So  dependent  is  man  upon  a 
combination  of  social  agencies  for  means  to  diminish  the 
inquietudes  and  discomforts  of  a  rude  and  uncivilized  state, 
and  to  procure  peace  and  enjoyment  for  himself,  that 


A  XD     LETTERS.  35 

he  is  incapable  of  realizing  his  high  destiny  without  asso~ 
ciations  with  his  fellow-man. 

"  God,  working  ever  on  the  social  plan, 
By  various  ties  attaches  man  to  man." 

The  habit  and  capability  of  enjoying  the  romance  and 
seclusion  and  repose  of  the  country,  is  usually  derived 
from  the  busy  scenes  of  life.  It  is  the  education  of  the 
city  which  man  has  built  that  gives  us  power  to  observe 
and  opens  up  the  susceptibilities  of  the  heart  to  the  coun 
try  God  has  made.  We  are  now  prepared,  I  trust,  to  say, 
in  the  next  place, 

VI.  THAT  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  CITIES  ON  POLITICAL  SCI 
ENCE  is  VERY  GREAT.  To  some  extent  this  has  been  an 
ticipated  in  what  has  been  said  of  the  rise,  early  history, 
and  constitution  of  cities.  The  first  form  of  government 
was  patriarchal.  As  families  enlarged,  and  the  heads  of 
family-states  died,  it  became  necessary  to  ELECT  a  chief, 
and  thus  political  institutions  began  to  assume  a  system 
atic  character. 

As  purposes  of  trade  and  defense  of  life  and  property 
caused  men  to  build  cities  and  surround  them  with  walls 
without,  so  necessity  soon  taught  them  to  make  laws 
within.  And  the  very  first  division  of  labor  and  distinc 
tion  between  meum  and  tuum,  produced  some  idea  of 


36  HOMES      OF     TRADE 

equal  rights  and  of  personal  independence  and  self-respect. 
And  the  intercourse  of  these  towns,  one  with  another, 
called  for  laws  and  tribunals  of  justice,  and  a  kind  of 
international  code,  and  a  desire  for  refinement  and  rep 
utation  were  the  natural  results.  And  as  these  salutary 
consequences  were  enjoyed,  the  idea  of  self-reliance,  of 
independence,  of  home,  and  of  the  love  of  country  would 
naturally  be  developed.  And  as  a  municipal  body,  every 
city  soon  had  its  local  regulations,  and  its  local  functiona 
ries.  These  regulations,  and  the  powers  of  these  function 
aries  emanating  from  the  people,  were  expressions  of  the 
popular  will.  And  thus  a  popular  character  was  very 
soon  and  very  naturally  attached  to  the  municipal  law  and 
authority  of  great  cities.  They  became  imperia  in  impe- 
ria.  And  such,  in  a  great  degree,  they  are  still.  In  all 
past  ages,  and  in  all  countries,  whether  in  Asia,  Africa, 
Europe  or  America,  where  the  people  have  attained  any 
thing  like  free  institutions,  and  achieved  a  high  degree 
of  wealth,  and  consequently  of  civilization,  it  is  found  that 
there  were  built  great  cities,  and  that  in  them  were  con 
centrated  and  longest  preserved  the  elements  of  civiliza 
tion  and  freedom. 

HEEREN  has  justly  remarked,  that  "  the  rise  of  cities 
was  the  most  important  source  of  the  Republicanism  of 
antiquity."  This  was  particularly  true  of  Greece.  And 
Lord  Brougham  has  said  that  "the  manufactures  and 


AND     LETTERS.  37 

commerce  of  England  give  life  and  vigor  to  the  main  pil 
lars  of  liberty  in  the  realm."  Speeches,  vol.  i.,  p.  45 Y, 
Edinburgh  edition. 

The  necessities  of  city  governments  are  of  a  strong  Re 
publican  tendency.  The  cities  of  Italy  are  to  this  day  the 
most  important  remnants  of  the  great  fabric  of  ancient 
civilization.  It  was  amid  their  bloody  contests  with  one 
another,  that  they  lighted  the  torch  of  modern  civiliza 
tion.  It  was  the  cities  of  Northern  Italy  that  opened  the 
way  for  the  progress  of  improvement,  by  confederating  to 
gether  against  the  Emperors  of  Germany,  very  much  as 
the  most  important  cities  of  Greece  entered  into  a  con 
federation  to  oppose  the  power  of  Macedon.  The  Achaean 
and  the  Hanseatic  leagues,  and  the  confederacy  of  the 
High  German  and  Rhenish  cities  from  the  foot  of  the 
Alps  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mayne  in  1253,  and  of  the  Sua- 
bian  cities  in  1488,  and  more  recent  commercial  unions 
and  treaties  will  suggest  something  to  your  minds  of  their 
immense  influence  on  human  affairs.  Time  peremptorily 
forbids  me  to  enter  on  the  history  of  confederate  cities, 
and  I  am  sorry  to  say,  I  do  not  know  of  any  good  history 
in  our  language  on  the  rise  and  influence  of  free  cities.* 

VII.  Let  us  consider  next  the  INFLUENCE  OF  CITIES  ON 
PHYSICAL  SCIENCE.  And  what  are  the  monuments  of 

*  See  Appendix  M. 
4 


38  HOMES      OF     TRADE 

Thebes  and  Persepolis,  of  Athens  and  Rome,  but  the  "  mu 
tilated  treatises"  of  the  ancients  on  science  ?  Their  mon 
uments,  like  their  literature,  are  memorials  of  their  minds, 
showing  us  their  developments  of  thought,  reasoning, 
imagination,  and  truth.  Cities  are  known  to  us  as  once 
having  existed  great  in  power  and  wealth,  not  so  much 
from  their  preserved  written  literature,  as  by  the  molder- 
ing  fragments  of  their  science.  It  is  thus  with  Copan, 
Uxmal,  Palenque,  Etruria,  Petra,  and  the  cities  of  the  Nile 
and  Euphrates.  Every  region  of  country  that  has  become 
the  seat  of  a  great  city,  has  become  the  HOME  of  an  im 
proved  agriculture.  This  results  in  part  from  the  wealth 
of  cities,  and  in  part  from  their  mechanical  and  scientific 
skill.  Do  not  the  associations  of  the  city  fell  the  forest, 
build  the  aqueduct  and  canal,  drain  the  swamp,  and  open 
up  highways  of  travel  and  trade  ? 

The  Babylonians,  the  Carthaginians,  the  Moslems  of 
Spain,  and  the  nations  of  modern  Europe  are  scarcely  less 
celebrated  for  the  adorning  of  their  capitals  than  for  the 
agricultural  improvements  of  their  respective  territories. 
Lands  nearest  great  cities  are  more  valuable  than  those 
remote,  and  the  larger  the  city,  the  more  valuable  the 
land  in  its  neighborhood.  Large  portions  of  the  earth's 
surface  is  not  fit  for  cultivation  until  it  is  cleared  and 
drained,  and  this  requires  means,  money,  and  skill,  which 
the  city  alone  can  furnish.  I  know  it  is  said  that  com- 


AND     LBTTKHS.  39 

mercial  States  are  selfish  and  mercenary.  If  so,  how  does 
it  happen  that  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  are  at 
the  same  time  both  the  most  benevolent  and  commercial 
nations  on  the  globe  ?  How  does  it  happen  that  sufferers 
by  flood  and  fire,  by  robbery  and  tyranny  in  all  parts  of 
the  world — from  the  cry  of  the  Greeks  to  the  refugees  of 
political  proscription  in  1848— have  shared  our  almsgiv 
ings  ?  Where  was  it,  and  whence  but  from  the  great 
marts  of  commerce,  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  flowed 
into  the  treasury  of  the  Howards  during  the  prevalence  of 
the  epidemic  of  last  summer  in  my  own  city?*  And  how 
is  it  that,  according  to  a  well-informed  newspaper,  the 
amount  of  money  raised  in  the  United  States  and  sent 
abroad  within  the  last  forty-five  years  for  charitable  pur 
poses,  far  exceeds  the  amount  due  to  Europe  for  interest 
on  all  the  debts  of  all  the  States  of  the  Union  ?  And 
where,  but  in  our  large  towns  and  cities,  are  the  funds  ob 
tained  to  build  churches,  colleges,  and  asylums  ? 

It  is  said  again,  that  a  city  population  is  fickle  and  su 
perficial — that  they  are  "  like  Zimri,  all  things  by  fits  and 
starts,  and  nothing  long."  It  may  be  that  the  mass  of  the 
city  are  superficial  thinkers,  and  do  not  achieve  profound 
scholarship.  They  may  not  excel  in  brilliant  emanations 
of  intellect ;  but,  still  a  commercial  people  are  always  an 
ingenious,  quick  witted  people.  A  commercial  age  is  also 
*  New  Orleans. 


40  HOMES     OF     TRADE 

a  deep-thinking  age.  And  if  the  deep-thinking  is  not 
done  in  the  city,  it  is  encouraged,  supported,  and  directed 
by  the  city.  The  cities  of  a  trading  people  are  the  forges 
and  workshops  of  thought — deep,  powerful,  upheaving, 
deathless  thought.  The  profound  thinkings  of  a  commer 
cial  people  may  not  be  committed  to  paper  in  Parnassian 
rythrn,  nor  in  Ciceronian  periods.  Its  vehicle  of  com 
munication  with  the  outer  world  is  more  generally  a 
series  of  Arabic  abstractions  called  figures,  which  soon 
assume  local  habitations  and  names  for  the  most  substan 
tial  comforts  and  highest  pursuits  and  enjoyments  of  man. 
It  is  true  that  every  one  that  has  money  to  purchase  fine 
pictures  and  statuary,  has  not  the  taste  of  a  Reynolds,  a 
West,  a  Canova,  or  a  Powers.  All  men  are  not  equally 
able  for  all  things.  But  an  admiration  for  the  fine  arts 
argues  good  taste.  If 

"  To  dally  much  with  subjects  mean  and  low- 
Proves  that  the  mind  is  weak,  or  makes  it  so," 

then  the  disposition  to  patronize  the  higher  departments 
of  letters  and  arts,  is  proof  of  a  refined  judgment  and  an 
elevated  taste.  If  the  embellishing  of  the  houses,  halls, 
temples  and  public  institutions  of  cities,  and  the  residences 
of  merchant  princes,  supports  the  artist ;  if  it  is  the  use  of 
the  wealth  of  the  city  that  creates  the  taste  and  furnishes 
the  means  for  the  enjoyment  of  pictures  and  statues ;  if 


AND      LETTERS.  41 

it  is  the  demand  that  calls  forth  the  supply,  then  it  will  be 
found,  that  it  is  from  the  emporiums  of  trade  that  the 
mandate  issues  to  send  Nature  forth 

"  To  teach  the  canvas  innocent  deceit,     , 
Or  lay  the  landscape  on  the  snowy  sheet." 

\~*->  ^ 

If  the  city  gives  value  and  beauty  to  the  fields  and  gar 
dens  of  the  country,  and  tames  the  stubborn  soil  and 
makes  it  fruitful,  and  furnishes  a  market  for  its  products, 
and  builds  and  adorns  the  landlord's  palace,  much  more 
does  it  improve  and  elevate  his  taste  to  the  possession  and 
enjoyment  of  the  works  of  art.  If  all  the  world  were 
farmers  they  might  have  bread  and  beef  enough,  but  the 
mass  of  mankind  would  be  idle,  untaught  and  narrow- 
minded.  For  it  is  the  excitement  of  trade,  the  conflicts 
of  a  generous  rivalry,  and  the  enlargement  of  ideas  con 
sequent  upon  the  exchange  of  the  products  of  one  coun 
try  for  those  of  another,  that  call  forth  the  powers  of  the 
mind  and  the  heart,  that  gathering  wealth  and  social  com 
forts  expand  into  civilization. 

Wealth,  that  is  the  comforts  that  wealth  commands,  has 
a  tendency  to  improve  the  general  health  and  prolong  the 
mean  duration  of  human  life,  and  health  and  long  life  in 
their  turn  produce  wealth.  They  are  mutually  cause  and 
consequence — both  the  results  of  advancing  civilization, 

and  both  contributing  every  hour  to  carry  on  civilization 
4* 


42  HOMES      OF      TRADE 

to  a  yet  higher  point  of  excellence.  History  proves  that 
wealth  and  knowledge  combined  have  done  much  to  pre 
vent  human  casualties,  and  have  generated  a  nature  favor 
able  to  a  healthy  physical  condition  of  society  alike 
calculated  to  ward  off  the  attacks  of  disease  and  to  bafflo 
them  when  they  are  incurred.  Philosophers,  physicians 
and  educators  have  been  successful  in  awakening  the  pub 
lic  mind  to  the  vast  importance  of  the  proper  ventilation 
of  sitting-rooms,  sleeping  chambers,  and  school-houses, 
and  the  wicked  absurdities  of  whalebones  and  thin  soled 
shoes.  A  French  writer  has  shown  that  persons  of  high 
rank  have  better  health  and  live  longer  than  those  that 
are  subjected  to  pain,  anxiety  and  hard  labor — that  the 
middle  class  far  exceed  the  poor  in  health  and  length  of 
life.  The  cultivation  of  the  mind,  whether  from  direct 
intuition,  or  from  improved  social  circumstances,  or  from 
a  combination  of  these  and  other  causes,  increases  the 
mental  power  both  to  endure  and  to  enjoy.  The  offi 
cers  of  the  grand  army  of  Napoleon  stood  out  longer 
than  the  privates  in  the  retreat  from  Moscow,  although 
the  previous  habits  of  both  parties  would  seem  to  have 
indicated  the  very  reverse.  The  same  observation  is 
true  of  our  army  in  Mexico.  Literary  men,  and  arti 
sans,  and  clergymen,  in  Europe  and  in  this  country, 
who  have  a  competence,  are  long-lived  in  their  genera 
tion.  The  insurance  offices  of  England  show  that  of 


AND     LETTERS.  43 

the  middle  classes  who  have  insured  their  lives,  the 
annual  average  of  mortality  compared  with  that  of 
the  negro  slaves  of  the  British  West  Indies  from  1800  to 
1820,  was  one  to  eighty-one,  while  that  of  the  negroes 
was  one  to  every  five  or  six.  As  the  wealth  and  domes 
tic  comforts  of  Europe  and  America  have  increased,  so 
has  the  average  duration  of  life  increased,  and  the  ratio 
of  mortality  diminished. 

Statistical  inquiries  in  this  country  have  scarcely  begun, 
and  in  Europe  they  have  hardly  reached  the  maturity  of  a 
science ;  yet  they  are  so  far  advanced  as  to  enable  life  in 
surance  companies  to  operate  with  perfect  safety.  And  it 
were  a  blessing  in  the  advancement  of  civilization,  if  the 
foolish  prejudices  that  still  exist  against  life  insurance 
offices  were  all  overcome,  and  our  salaried  men,  mechanics, 
clerks  and  packers,  laborers  and  draymen  who  are  mar 
ried — and  they  all  ought  to  be  married,  and  to  have  their 
wives  with  them  in  California — if  they  all  invested  a  por 
tion  of  their  income  every  month  as  a  deposit  for  their 
families  in  Life  Insurances. 

The  influence  of  cities  upon  the  fine  arts  is  seen  in  the 
fact,  that  the  adornments  of  the  castles  of  Europe  were 
borrowed  from  its  merchant  palaces.  Germany  and  Flan 
ders,  Genoa  and  Venice,  excited  the  envy  of  the  feudal 
aristocracy,  and  then  military  nobles  and  scions  of  royal 
blood  berran  to  cultivate  a  taste  for  the  fine  arts.  It  is  an 


44  HOMES      OF     TRADE 

undenied  matter  of  fact,  that  the  revival  of  the  fine 
arts  in  Europe,  was  much  more  the  work  of  its  mer 
chants  than  of  its  nobles  or  of  its  princes.  It  is  not  an 
aristocracy  of  privilege  and  blood,  but  of  wealth  and 
genius  that  creates  and  fosters  the  fine  arts,  and  when 
they  shall  cease  to  have  the  patronage  of  the  trader  and 
the  citizen,  then  they  will  perish  from  the  face  of  the 
earth.  Along  with  the  skill  that  produces,  comes  the 
means  of  possession  and  the  capacity  to  enjoy.  The  Re 
publican  traders  of  Holland  had  a  fine  school  of  art  a 
hundred  years  before  the  aristocracy  of  England  could 
boast  a  single  one.*  But  as  England  has  become  great  in 
commerce  and  in  building  cities,  so  has  her  tastes  for  the 
fine  arts  improved  also.  And  the  English  art  of  the 
nineteenth  century  is  just  such  an  improvement  upon 
the  Dutch  school,  as  English  naval  power  and  commer 
cial  greatness  surpass  that  of  Holland  in  the  seventeenth 
century.  The  pictures  and  statues  and  histories  of  Greece 
that  surrounded  the  Roman  youth,  educated  them  to  be 
the  men  they  were,  just  as  the  atmosphere  of  the  Alle- 
ghany  makes  the  strong  mountaineer.  This,  then,  should 
teach  us  to  have  public  Squares,  Fountains  and  Statuary, 
Libraries,  Lyceums,  Museums  and  Fairs  for  the  people. 
It  is  by  the  presence  of  such  things  a  healthful  public 
taste  may  be  created. 

*  See  Appendix  B. 


AND      LETTERS.  45 

FINALLY.  The  more  commercial  and  town  building 
States  have  always  been  in  the  van  of  POPULAR  EDUCA 
TION.  This  was  true  of  Holland  and  Spain  in  their  glory, 
and  is  now  eminently  true  of  OLD  and  NBW  ENGLAND. 
It  is  not  my  purpose  to  enter  upon  an  examination  of  the 
difference  between  the  state  of  education  in  agricultural 
and  mining  districts,  compared  with  those  of  the  manu 
facturing  districts  of  Europe,  nor  to  consider  the  state  of 
popular  education  in  large  towns  and  cities,  in  contradis 
tinction  to  that  of  rural  districts ;  but  it  is  believed  that 
such  an  examination  would  show  a  vast  result  in  favor  of 
manufacturing  districts  and  cities — both  as  to  the  number 
of  schools  and  their  efficiency,  and  as  to  the  number  of 
children  receiving  instruction  and  the  proficiency  of  their 
studies — nor  can  I  now  compare  the  state  of  education  in 
America  with  that  of  Europe,  although  when  abroad  in 
the  old  world,  I  made  some  examination  into  the  condi 
tion  of  European  schools,  and  the  result  is  that  I  am 
more  than  ever  satisfied  that  American  schools  and  sys 
tems  of  education  and  elementary  books  and  training  are 
in  every  respect,  except  that  of  physical  education,  wor 
thy  to  be  compared  with  the  best  in  Europe.  And  in 
some  respects,  especially  in  activity  of  mental  habits,  uni 
versality  of  attainments,  and  adaptedness  to  the  nature  of 
free  institutions  and  the  useful  pursuits  of  life,  I  consider 
our  schools  superior  to  any  in  the  world.  There  is  a 


46  HOMES      OF     TRADE 

healthfulness  and  a  purity  and  modesty,  and  a  vigor  in 
the  mass  of  the  people  in  our  oldest  and  best  regulated 
communities,  that  can  not  be  found  abroad.  Our  free  in 
stitutions  as  they  emanate  from  the  Federal  Constitution 
and  from  Washington,  and  are  possessed  by  our  sovereign 
States  and  in  municipal  bodies,  and  especially  as  they  are 
connected  with  the  two  dearest  rights  of  man,  the  liberty 
of  the  Press  and  the  liberty  of  conscience,  contribute  to 
render  our  country  a  scene  of  constant  mental  training. 
Though  our  territory  is  immensely  large  and  our  popula 
tion  widely  scattered,  yet  such  is  our  mobility,  our  inter 
course  and  activity,  our  traveling  and  intercommunion  one 
State  with  another,  and  one  city  with  another,  and  of  the 
country  with  the  city,  and  so  universal  the  circulation  of 
newspapers  and  the  diffusion  of  the  blessings  of  education, 
that  substantially  all  our  large  towns  and  populous  dis 
tricts  enjoy  the  advantages  of  a  city  population,  with 
a  freer  circulation  of  pure  air.  The  newspapers,  teachers 
and  books,  and  professional  skill  which  our  towns  and  re 
mote  neighborhoods  enjoy  are  the  products  of  city  insti 
tutions. 

The  influence  of  the  city  press  alone,  every  week,  is 
powerful  beyond  calculation  upon  millions  of  minds. 
The  earliest  news  hastens  to  and  from  the  city ;  the  most 
startling  and  thrilling  exhibitions  of  depravity  are  there 
reported.  Thither  the  country  looks  for  the  most  saga- 


AND      LETTERS.  47 

cious  conjectures  of  what  is  to  come.  The  city  press  is 
sometimes  a  combination  of  whatever  is  corrupt  and  de 
basing;  but  it  is  also  often  marked  with  whatever  is 
quick,  powerful  and  comprehensive  in  intellect,  and 
almost  as  resistless  as  Fate.  There  is  not  such  a  news 
paper  reading  population  on  the  globe  as  that  of  America. 
The  intelligence  thus  imparted  and  the  sharpening  of  the 
faculties  of  our  people  by  means  of  public  lectures  and 
schools,  and  the  influence  of  the  Sabbath  with  its  schools, 
libraries,  and  pulpits,  are  all  working  out  the  great  destiny 
of  this  nation.  It  is  in  such  a  great  school-house,  with 
the  press  and  the  temple  of  a  pure  Christianity  for  his 
instructors,  that  every  American  has  his  place  from  earli 
est  youth  even  to  the  end  of  his  days. 

The  influence  of  great  cities,  then,  is  the  combined 
influence  of  wealth  and  mind.  When  a  favored  spot  has 
been  selected  for  the  building  of  a  city,  men  gather  there ; 
the  laborer,  the  mechanic,  and  the  merchant.  These  must 
have  houses  to  dwell  in,  and  they  must  have  sustenance. 
This  creates  a  market.  Laborers,  mechanics  and  mer 
chants,  are  sometimes  sick ;  this  brings  the  physician ; 
and  sometimes  they  quarrel,  this  brings  lawyers  and  jus 
tices  and  creates  courts.  Teachers,  too,  are  needed  to 
instruct  their  children,  and  ministers  of  the  Gospel  to 
remind  them  of  a  world  to  come.  The  wants  of  such  a 
population  bring  ships  with  their  cargoes,  and  the  intro- 


48  HOMES      OF     THADE 

duction  of  foreign  products  calls  for  home  manufactures 
to  pay  for  them,  and  this  exchange  of  products  introduces 
fashion,  taste,  rivalry,  and  skill,  and  activity  in  the  pur 
suit  of  wealth.  Great  cities  are  thus  the  exchange  places 
of  commerce,  agriculture,  and  manufactures,  and  these 
exchanges  can  not  be  made  without  leaving  heavy  depos 
its,  and  the  richer  and  larger  the  surface  of  the  world 
that  trades  to  a  particular  city,  the  greater  will  be  that 
city  in  wealth  and  population.  Mental  efforts  are  usually 
put  forth  either  by  high  excitement  or  for  large  rewards 
of  money.  Both  of  these  are  found  in  cities.  The  city 
capitalist  and  merchant,  are  more  likely  to  be  men  of 
strong  intellect,  than  the  nobleman  that  pretends  to  trace 
his  blood  back  to  William  the  Conqueror,  or  Charle 
magne.  No  men  need  keener  wits,  or  more  mature  judg 
ments,  and  more  accurate  and  extensive  views,  than  the 
merchants  of  large  cities.  Large  fortunes  may  be  made 
or  lost,  as  their  knowledge  of  different  countries  and  mar 
kets  may  be  correct  or  imperfect.  The  web  of  social  pol 
icy  is  never  more  intricate  than  when  wrought  from  the 
threadwork  of  commerce.  If  I  am  not  mistaken,  no 
courts  require  more  available  intelligence  on  all  subjects 
than  the  commercial.  They  are  calculated  to  elicit  a 
keen,  a  comprehensive,  and  a  robust,  if  not  a  highly 
refined  intelligence.  The  most  flourishing  schools  of  lit 
erature,  and  of  the  learned  professions ;  the  universities 


AND     LETTERS.  49 

that  mold  the  mind  of  the  world,  are  found  in  Paris, 
Berlin,  Rome,  Leipsic,  Edinburgh,  and  other  large  towns 
and  cities  in  Europe  and  America. 

The  country  and  the  village  may  be  the  best  place  for 
the  birth  and  early  training  of  youth ;  but  it  is  in  the  ex 
citement  of  the  city  that  the  highest  developments  of 
mind  are  made.  The  powerful  minds  that  have  swayed 
the  destinies  of  mankind,  though  not  commonly  born  in 
the  great  city,  have  generally  gone  to  reside  there,  to  feel 
the  pressure  of  that  activity  which  would  draw  out 
their  strength,  and  to  find  a  theater  suitable  for  their  tal 
ents.  Our  men  of  letters  have  their  homes  in  or  near  our 
largest  cities.  Hume,  whose  authority  is  great  in  all  mat 
ters  of  mere  literary  experience,  says  that  "  a  great  city  is 
the  only  fit  residence  for  a  man  of  letters."  This  is  true. 
In  the  country  there  may  be  leisure,  but  there  will  be  a 
want  of  impulse  for  intellectual  pursuits.  The  mind  lan 
guishes  in  the  midst  of  a  wilderness.  "  'Tis  better,"  in  the 
development  of  intellect,  "  to  dwell  in  the  midst  of  alarms, 
than  reign"  in  a  horrible  solitude.  The  mind  without 
congenial  spirits  stagnates.  "  It  gathers  the  rust  of  de 
cay,"  as  the  immortal  Chalmers  says,  "  by  its  mere  dis 
tance  from  sympathy  and  example."  See  his  Polity  of 
Cities.  It  is  in  the  presence  of  libraries  And  of  literary 
men,  and  under  the  pressure  of  intense  excitement,  that 
the  human  mind  ordinarily  comes  forth  in  its  greatest 


50  II  O  M  E  S      O  F     T  K  A  D  E 

power.  The  leading  men  in  all  departments  of  city  life 
are  generally  from  the  country  ;  but  it  is  in  the  city  they 
encounter  one  another,  and  iron  sharpeneth  iron.  Here 
they  wrestle,  they  struggle,  they  grapple,  they  fall,  they 
rise,  and  they  run  together — and,  side  by  side,  and  urged 
on  by  the  same  kind  of  motives,  they  aim  at  the  same 
goal.  Here  rivalry,  excitement,  and  discussion  evolve 
the  highest  kind  of  mental  discipline,  the  keenest  percep 
tion  of  things,  and  the  loftiest  sweep  of  intelligence  and 
mental  vision.  Here  the  gravest  questions  on  morals, 
politics,  and  religion,  are  agitated  and  discussed,  decided 
upon,  and  settled.  Here  the  highest  kind  of  professional 
skill  is  called  for,  under  the  pressure  of  the  most  intense 
excitement,  and  the  largest  reward.  In  great  cities  have 
been  made  the  decisions  in  law  which  have  settled  great 
national  principles,  and  given  stability  to  the  whole  of  so- 
tiety  ;  the  discoveries  in  medicine  which  have  alleviated 
the  woes  of  countless  myriads  ;  the  improvements  in  art, 
which  have  thrown  the  world  forward,  centuries  at  a  sin 
gle  leap ;  and  the  investigations  in  science  and  learning, 
which  have  gradually  changed  the  whole  face  of  society. 
Where,  but  in  a  city,  flowed  forth  the  eloquence  that 
"  shook  the  arsenal,  and  fulmined  over  Greece  to  Macedon 
and  Artaxerxes'  throne?"  In  cities  have  been  brought 
forth  the  wonderful  creations  of  the  pencil ;  poetry  has 
tuned  her  loftiest  rythm  amid  countless  throngs  of  stirring 


AND     LETTERS.  51 

men,  and  "  the  waters  of  Helicon"  have  gushed  forth 
from  paved  streets  and  narrow  lanes.  Homer,  Socrates, 
Shakspeare,  Blackstone  and  Milton  lived  in  cities.  Soc 
rates  and  the  Son  of  Mary  taught  alike  in  the  city  and  in 
the  desert  waste.  The  influence  of  Rome  was  so  decided, 
that  when  it  became  Christian,  the  empire  was  converted, 
and  when  she  fell  under  the  weight  of  her  corruption,  the 
empire  fell  as  if  smitten  with  a  palsy  through  every  liga 
ment  and  fiber.  And  all  the  world  knows  that  Paris  is 
France,  and  that,  as  that  city  decrees,  the  mighty  French 
nation  is  a  republic  or  a  monarchy.  And  not  only  so, 
but  as  Paris  dresses,  so  dresses  the  world.  The  caprice  or 
taste  of  a  Parisian,  gives  style  to  courts,  and  to  all  refined 
nations.  Jerusalem  was  Judea,  and  with  its  subversion, 
the  Jewish  polity  ceased.  The  cry  of  independence  first 
raised  in  Mechlenberg  county,  North  Carolina,  was  re 
sponded  to  by  a  mighty  voice  from  Boston ;  and  from  the 
New  England  metropolis  went  forth  the  strong  pulsations 
that  severed  the  United  Colonies  from  the  British  crown. 
The  mighty  heart  of  the  British  Empire  is  London,  the 
greatest  city  of  ancient  or  modern  times.  The  govern 
ment  is  there ;  the  wealth  is  there ;  the  press  is  there ; 
the  mind  is  there ;  the  hilt  of  the  sword  is  there.  The 
whole  world  is  under  contribution  by  means  of  England's 
commerce  supported  by  her  navy,  for  its  wealth,  luxury, 
and  glory.  The  whole  world  feels  its  every  pulsation. 


52  HOMES     OF     TRADE 

The  thinkings  of  the  British  Cabinet  run  along  the  nerves 
of  civilization,  to  the  extremities  of  the  globe.  If  such  be 
the  fearful  influence  of  cities  upon  national  destiny,  it  is  a 
matter  of  infinite  moment  that  they  should  be  pervaded 
with  sound  principles.  Our  cities  must  be  filled  with  the 
waters  of  life  that  the  whole  nation  may  drink  and  live. 
If  they  become  the  centers  of  pollution,  their  tainted 
streams  will  flow  forth  afar  and  in  every  direction  ;  if,  by 
means  of  corruption  and  vice,  they  become  the  great 
slaughter-houses  of  our  young  men,  fearful  will  be  the 
doom  that  will  inevitably  overtake  the  nation.  But  we 
read  the  future  with  hope  and  confidence.  The  hitherto 
almost  impassable  gulf  that  separated  the  ignorant  from 
the  educated  is  bridged.  An  aggressive  movement  of 
light  is  made  upon  the  darkness  that  has  hitherto  covered 
the  poor.  Sympathy  is  beginning  to  pour  a  drop  of  com 
fort  into  the  cup  of  filth  and  poverty.  Now,  the  poor 
man  sees  the  fair  temple  of  science  open  to  his  children. 
The  darkened  mass  is  beginning  to  live.  A  hope  of  re 
spectability  and  of  rising  from  suffering  to  comfort  and 
enjoyment  is  infused  into  the  mass.  The  mind  of  the 
multitude  is  beginning  to  be  enlightened  and  inspired 
with  a  taste  for  the  beautiful  and  the  good,  and  with  a 
desire  for  cleanliness  of  person,  of  clothes,  and  habitation 
— with  a  taste  for  the  morning  paper,  and  for  flowers, 
and  for  the  charms  of  domestic  bliss,  there  is  hope 


AND     LETTERS.  53 

for  the  purification  of  the  heart.  There  is  hope  that 
order,  and  sobriety,  and  industry  will  supplant  idleness, 
ignorance,  and  depravity.  And  as  every  human  soul 
has  a  right  patent  from  the  Almighty  for  knowledge, 
so  must  the  children  of  the  street,  and  of  the  alley  be 
gathered  into  our  public  and  Sabbath-schools.  The  wealthy 
and  the  benevolent  must  strive  together  to  improve,  re 
fine,  and  elevate  the  public  taste  by  libraries,  scientific 
lectures,  and  halls  of  painting  and  statuary.  The  million 
must  be  baptized  into  knowledge  and  charity.  The  poor 
man  must  be  made  to  feel  that  respectability  and  comfort 
here,  and  life  everlasting  are  indeed  within  his  reach — that 
the  promise  of  the  Gospel,  of  a  free  education,  and  of  un 
fettered  political  rights,  as  well  as  of  his  Maker's  Bible  and 
of  his  Maker's  grace,  is  unto  him  and  his  children  forever. 
5* 


LECTURE     II. 


II. 

TRADE  AND  LETTERS: 

THEIR    CONNECTION   AND    INFLUENCE    ON   THE    PROGRESS 
OF    NATIONS.* 

Liberal  trade  is  good  scholarship  popularized,  and  Commerce  is  literature 
on  a  sign-board. 

A  MERE  tithe  of  reflection  on  the  part  of  an  audience 
so  intelligent  as  the  one  I  have  to  address,  will  show  that 
great  breadth  of  knowledge  in  our  day  attaches  to  the  art 
of  the  farmer,  and  of  the  navigator,  without  whose  joint 
labors  mankind  can  neither  be  happy,  nor  progress  as 
nations.  Our  banks,  warehouses,  express-offices,  and  cus 
tom-houses,  and  steamers,  and  clippers,  are  nothing  with 
out  trade,  and  without  them  and  the  trade  which  is  their 
life-blood,  where  were  our  halls  of  art  and  science,  and 
asylums,  and  temples  ?  If  some  brief  and  fragmentary 
thoughts  on  Trade  and  Letters — their  connection  and 
influence  on  national  progress,  are  likely  to  be  useful  any 
where,  I  have  ventured  to  hope  they  would  be  acceptable 

*  Delivered  before  the  Mercantile  Library  Association,  of  Sarv 
Francisco,  in  Musical  Hall,  on  Tuesday  evening,  November  27th. 
1855. 


58  TKADEAND      LETTERS*. 

before  so  intelligent,  energetic,  and  practical  a  body  as 
the  Mercantile  Library  Association  of  San  Francisco, 
who  are  the  pioneers  and  founders  of  a  vast  empire  on 
the  Pacific  coast — whose  influence  is  to  travel  with  the 
orb  of  day  and  expand  with  his  genial  rays  over  the 
globe.  Our  position  as  an  infant  State,  renders  this  sub 
ject  an  eminently  practical  one.  Before  it  was  known 
that  there  were  mountains  of  gold  in  this  State,  it  was 
said  that  the  American's  creed  was  utility — to  do  the  most 
and  get  the  most,  in  the  shortest  time.  If  this  were  so, 
then,  without  doubt  his  history  now  from  the  cradle  to 
the  grave  is  all  in  the  imperative  mood  of  the  infinitive 
conjugation  of  the  verb,  to  do — to  do  worship  to  the 
almighty  dollar.  At  least,  gentlemen,  I  conceive  our 
times  and  responsibilities  attach  practical  urgency  to  the 
consideration  of  such  a  subject.  Whatever  we  do  here, 
we  do  for  coming  ages,  and  what  we  fail  to  do,  that  we 
should  do,  is  a  fraud  upon  millions  yet  to  be  born. 

I.  The  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  were  the  seed- 
sowing  time  of  what  Europe  and  America  now  are. 
Almost  all  the  great  events  that  now  distinguish  Christen 
dom,  may  be  traced  up  to  those  times.  The  present 
state  of  science  and  literature,  of  the  ornamental  and  use 
ful  arts,  of  trade  and  social  improvement,  and  of  political 
knowledge  and  rights,  may  be  traced  back  to  the  revival 


THEIR     CONNECTION     AND     INFLUENCE.         59 

of  letters ,  consequent  upon,  and  connected  with  the  dis 
covery  of  America,  the  Reformation,  commenced  by 
Luther  and  his  fellow-laborers,  the  invention  of  the  art  of 
Printing,  and  the  discovery  of  the  passage  to  India,  by 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  In  the  progress  of  nations  to 
wealth  and  power,  various  movements  may  be  observed, 
and  some  of  them  may  appear  to  be  disconnected  or  antag 
onistic,  but  a  more  careful  study  of  their  respective  histo 
ries  reveals  the  fact,  that  their  development  has  been 
through  a  graduated  series,  the  one  preparing  for  the 
other,  and  rising  higher  than  the  previous  one;  that  some 
times  the  upward  tendency  has  been  checked,  sometimes 
thrown  back  ;  but  that  on  the  whole  there  has  ever  been 
somewhere,  a  Goshen-spot,  a  rainbow-girt  glen,  where 
man  has  continued  to  struggle  for  progress  in  truth,  and 
victory  over  the  typhoon  of  evil,  and  where  the  light  that 
was  in  him  could  not  be  crushed  out,  nor  his  hopes  be 
driven  to  despair.  In  some  spot  or  other  of  our  globe, 
the  sacred  fire  of  liberty  has  always  been  kept  burning, 
and  in  due  time,  the  vestal  flame  will  make  luminous  all 
the  dark  places  of  the  earth.  I  am  aware  that  there  is  a 
school  of  prophets  who  never  see  any  thing  hopeful  in 
the  horoscope  of  our  race.  I  am  not  one  of  these. 
Thank  God,  I  do  not  belong  to  that  school.  Over  the 
field  of  carnage  and  death,  I  see  the  rainbow  of  promise. 
When  I  find  the  door  of  civilization  rusted  on  its  hinges 


60  TRADE     AND      LETTEKS: 

in  Asia,  and  fallen  from  its  portals  in  Africa,  and  covered 
in  ruins  on  the  Acropolis,  I  remember  the  flight  of  "  pious 
^Eneas,"  bearing  old  Anchises ;  I  remember  that  it  has 
raised  new  temples  in  other  hemispheres,  and  that  here 
its  doors  are  flung  wide  open,  and  by  our  Public  Schools, 
the  latch  strings  are  hung  on  the  outside,  so  that  whoso 
ever  will,  may  come,  and  whosoever  is  athirst  may  enter 
and  drink  from  the  living  fountains  of  knowledge. 

From  the  day  that  the  first  man  began  his  toiling  pil 
grimage,  the  earth  has  not  lacked  a  civilized  man  to  rule 
over  it.  The  oldest  monumental  records  of  our  race  are 
records  of  man's  highest  civilization  in  "  the  gray  dawn  of 
time."  The  further  back  we  go  in  Egypt's  history,  the 
higher  are  its  forms  of  civilization ;  and  it  is  now  an 
admitted  fact  by  the  savans  of  Europe,  that  civilization 
entered  Africa,  by  the  isthmus  of  Suez,  and  then  ascended 
the  Nile.  The  colonies  from  the  Euphrates  began  the 
mighty  empire  of  the  Nile  by  building  a  temple  at  Heli- 
opolis  for  the  worship  of  the  setting  sun.*  There  is  a 
tendency  in  the  waters  on  the  African  coast  to  flow  west 
ward  ;  this  creates  the  great  equatorial  current  that  breaks 
against  South  America,  and  expending  some  of  its  force 
by  sending  off  branches  north  and  south,  flows  on  itself 
through  the  Caribbean  sea ;  and  here,  growing  warm,  it 
flows  through  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  as  if  trying  to  get 
*  See  Osborne's  '  Monumental  Egypt,"  passim. 


THEIR     CONNECTION     AND     INFLUENCE.         61 

farther  west;  but  being  opposed  by  headlands,  it  is 
obliged  to  trace  its  way  along  the  Atlantic  side  of  this 
continent,  to  Newfoundland,  and  then  shoots  across  the 
Atlantic  to  Europe;  and  as  it  goes,  throws  its  lesser 
waves  upon  Iceland,  and  the  Arctic  sea. 

And  so  great  is  the  force  of  this  equatorial  current, 
heated  in  the  passage  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  that  it  actu 
ally  changes  the  line  of  perpetual  frost,  and  carries  it  sev 
eral  degrees  further  north.  But  for  the  warmth  of  the 
equatorial  current  thrown  upon  northern  Europe,  a  very 
large  portion  of  Russia,  Norway,  Sweden,  and  Lapland, 
would  be  perpetually  frozen.  Thus  the  fate  of  countries, 
and  the  lives  of  millions  of  men,  are  made  to  depend  on 
a  circumstance  so  slight  as  to  be  almost  unknown  or  over 
looked.  If  this  great  current  could  make  its  way  through 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  or  of  Tehuantepec,  to  the 
Pacific,  instead  of  being  compelled  to  make  its  way  north, 
what  would  happen?  Why,  if  the  Gulf  Stream  were 
poured  into  the  Pacific,  it  would  not  raise  the  temperature 
of  the  higher  latitudes  of  Europe,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
a  large  portion  of  those  countries  that  are  now  the  gran 
aries  of  men  and  beasts,  would  become  deserts  of  ice.  It 
is  owing  to  the  heat  diffused  by  the  Gulf  Stream,  on  its 
northward  progress,  that  France  and  Great  Britain  are  so 
much  milder  in  winter  than  the  same  latitudes  in  America. 
Now,  this  rebounding  of  the  currents  that  flow  westward 


62  TRADE    AND     LETTERS: 

from  the  equatorial  east,  is  a  significant  fact.  If  the 
waves  of  immigration  have  brought  principles,  institutions 
and  races,  from  the  East  to  our  shores,  it  is  that  they  may 
be  quickened,  warmed  into  a  better,  a  higher  life,  as  the 
equatorial  current,  and  then  made  to  flow  back,  to  regen 
erate,  beautify,  enrich,  and  save  the  Old  World.  As  a 
considerable  portion  of  Europe  would  be  frozen  up  but 
for  the  warmth  of  the  return  current  from  the  New 
World — so  would  it  have  starved  but  for  our  wheat-fields ; 
and  would  have  sunken  into  the  torpor  of  hopeless  tyr 
anny  but  for  the  impulses  of  Young  America,  whose 
example  is  galvanizing  it  into  newness  of  life.  But  seri 
ously,  I  apprehend  there  is  the  same  natural  tendency  in 
the  stream  of  civilization,  that  we  find  in  the  equatorial 
current.  It  began  to  flow  in  nearly  the  same  direction, 
and  has  been  arrested  by  the  same  continent,  and  is  now 
rebounding  in  the  same  general  course.  And  is  not  this 
a  kind  of  prophetic  omen  to  us,  through  the  beneficence 
of  Providence  that  is  ever  gracious  to  man,  pointing  out 
to  this  new  world  its  high  mission ! 

But  geology,  not  less  than  geography,  is  our  teacher 
and  prompter.  The  geologist  tells  us  that  the  crust  of 
our  globe  consists  of  certain  strata  subsisting  in  certain 
well-defined  relations  to  each  other.  That  is,  in  regard  to 
position,  one  stratum  is  higher  than  another.  And  that 
this  position  of  the  superponent  masses  is  owing  to  the 


THEIK    CONNECTION     AND     INFLUENCE.         63 

convulsions  of  the  last  days  of  the  dynasty  immediately 
preceding  the  advent  of  our  race  upon  the  planet,  and 
that  wherever  we  find  these  stratified  rocks,  the  same  rel 
ative  position  which  they  have  in  one  part,  will  hold  good 
all  over  the  globe,  unless  where,  from  some  extraordinary 
circumstance,  this  natural  position  has  been  disturbed. 
Just  so  is  it  with  human  races.  By  some  terrible  moral 
catastrophe,  they  are  all  found  in  the  same  stratified  posi 
tion,  except  where,  by  the  agency  of  some  great  extrane 
ous  power,  some  of  them  have  been  raised  above  it.  As 
man  came  from  the  hand  of  his  Maker,  he  was  highly  civ 
ilized.  But  by  a  sad  delinquency  he  lost  his  innocence. 
In  him,  however,  were  left  the  seeds  or  germs  from  which 
by  -great  culture  in  coming  ages,  he  might  repair  the 
ruins  of  his  fall.  And  hence,  human  progress  is  widely 
different,  at  different  times  and  among  different  races ;  but 
no  instance  has  ever  occurred  of  a  savage  nation  raising 
itself  to  civilization,  without  aid  from  abroad.  A  foreign 
element  has,  in  every  instance,  been  introduced.  And  this 
element  now  is  found  to  be  Christianity.  This  as  a  mere 
reviewer  of  the  world's  progress,  I  am  bound  to  say,  and 
without  affirming  any  thing  as  to  its  Divine  origin.  True 
or  false,  Christianity  is  now  a  world-wide  fact,  and  the 
dominant  influence  in  human  history.  To  it  the  hopes  of 
our  race  are  turned,  as  the  only  light  that  can  scatter  the 
darkness  that  broods  over  the  nations,  and  exorcise  the 


64  TRADE   AND    LETTERS: 

unclean   demons  that  have  so  long  lorded  it  over  the 
earth.* 

II.  The  almost  universal,  and  certainly  the  oldest  tradi 
tions  of  the  human  race  point  to  the  interior  of  Asia  as  its 
cradle.f  It  is  on  the  Mediterranean,  the  Persian  Gulf, 
the  Red  Sea,  and  the  Nile,  that  we  find  the  oldest  navi 
gators  mentioned  in  history,  the  Egyptians  and  Phenic- 
ians.J  And  to  one  of  these  very  earliest  of  trading  nations 
is  said  to  belong  the  honor  of  inventing  letters,  if,  indeed, 
they  were  invented,  and  to  both  the  Egyptians  and  Pheii- 
icians,  certainly,  belongs  the  place  in  the  world's  history, 
of  being  the  first  and  most  devoted  patrons  of  literature. 
They  are  not  more  famous  for  their  commerce  and  build 
ing  of  cities  than  they  are  for  their  knowledge  of  letters. 
When  they  were  the  greatest  traders  and  workers,  and 
the  most  wealthy  and  powerful,  then  they  were  the  most 
learned  people  in  the  world.  Herodotus,§  the  father  of 
profane  history,  on  many  points  is  a  doubtful  authority, 
for  he  was,  as  most  travelers  are,  the  victim  of  his  Phryg 
ian  dragoman.  But  beyond  him,  lies  the  unexplored  ter 
ritory  of  fable,  conjecture,  and  uncertainty.  Egypt's 
lying  priests  told  him  that  the  gods  reigned  over  their 
country  for  eighteen  thousand  years  before  Menes,  the 

*  See  Appendix  C.  f  See  Appendix  D. 

J  See  Appendix  E.  §  See  Appendix  F. 


THEIR    CONNECTION    AND    INFLUENCE.         65 

founder  of  their  first  mortal  dynasty,  but  they  throw 
not  a  ray  of  light  on  the  world's  early  days.  The  same 
thing  may  be  said  of  the  Hindoo  and  Chinese  records. 
They  are  not,  after  all,  as  old  as  Moses,  and  not  to  be  be 
lieved,  whether  old  or  new.  The  Pentateuch  is  the  oldest 
and  only  reliable  record  of  what  took  place  in  the  early 
ages  of  the  vorld.  It  is  only  incidentally,  however,  that 
the  inspired  writers  make  mention  of  heathen  nations. 

As  the  original  station  allotted  to  man  was  in  the 
East,  so  there  our  race  began  its  career  of  travel  and  im 
provement.  The  wisdom  of  the  East  would  therefore  be 
come  proverbial  at  an  early  day,  and  its  productions  be  in 
demand  among  the  nations  emerging  from  it.  The  re 
mains  of  the  sciences  which  were  cultivated  in  India,  as 
well  as  of  the  arts  which  were  exercised  there  in  remote 
ages,  authorize  us  to  conclude  that  it  was  one  of  the  first 
countries  in  which  man  made  any  considerable  progress. 

ORIGIN    OF    TRADE. 

Trade,  doubtless,  began  with  the  awakening  of  human 
desire.  I  think  the  first  bargain  was  made  in  Paradise, 
and  it  was  a  bargain  to  gratify  the  eye  and  taste,  but  it 
was  a  California  bargain — a  ruinous  speculation.  Cain, 
and  Lamech,  and  Tubal-Cain,  and  the  builders  of  cities, 

and  the  workers   in   metals,  however,  were  not  deterred 
6* 


66  TEADE     AXD      LETTERS: 

from  trading  with  Nimrod  for  skins  and  furs.  The  first 
trading  after  the  flood  was  between  the  mothers  and 
daughters  of  Noah's  three  sons,  when  they  were  pack 
ing  up  to  come  out  of  the  ark,  and  no  doubt  it  was  then 
found  that  those  who  had  been  the  neatest,  and  had  pre 
served  the  best  order  in  their  part  of  the  vessel,  were  able 
to  make  the  best  bargain,  and  I  have  but  very  little  doubt 
that  Shem's  family  were  the  best  traders.* 

For  a  considerable  time  the  intercourse  of  the  scattering 
families  of  these  three  great  patriarchal  fathers  must  have 
been  carried  on  wholly  by  land  and  on  foot.  It  was  or 
dained,  however,  by  the  beneficent  Creator,  that  man 
should  have  dominion  over  the  beasts  of  the  field.  Ac 
cordingly,  among  his  very  first  and  most  important  con 
quests  was  that  of  the  camel,  without  whose  aid  the  vast 
deserts  of  Asia  and  Africa  would  be  absolutely  impassable. 
But  as  mankind  became  more  and  more  numerous,  and 
more  widely  dispersed,  journeying  between  them  became 
long,  and  toilsome,  and  perilous,  and  yet  more  and  more 
frequent.  It  then  happened  that  mercantile  adventurers 
would  collect  together,  and  for  mutual  safety  and  com 
fort,  form  a  temporary  association,  which  was  afterward 
called  a  caravan,  and  this  was  the  original  of  our  express, 
mercantile,  and  joint-stock  companies. 

Still,  as  emigration  west  and  east,  north  and  south  pro- 
*  See  Appendix  G-. 


THEIR    CONNECTION    AND     INFLUENCE.         67 

gressed,  and  the  tribes  of  men  became  separated  by 
rivers,  and  bays,  and  seas,  it  became  more  and  more  diffi 
cult  to  keep  up  trade  and  intercourse.  Necessity  then 
became  the  mother  of  invention,  and  rivers  and  arms  of 
the  sea,  and  the  ocean  itself  was  made  man's  carrier.  Ship 
building  and  navigation  were  a  great  advance  upon  foot 
carriers  and  camels.  And  from  the  raft  or  canoe  that  the 
savage  constructed  to  ferry  him  over  the  river  that  he  en 
countered  in  the  chase,  to  the  steamship  of  our  day,  the 
progress  of  improvement  is  immense.  But  when  men 
were  once  able  to  travel  by  sea,  trade  soon  took  wings. 

Ships  are  on  water  what  rivers  and  railroads  are  on 
land.  The  earliest  caravan  routes,  were  along  the  rivers, 
and  from  one  river  to  another.  In  early  times,  as  now, 
rivers  and  mountains  have  much  to  do  in  shaping  the 
course  of  the  current  of  humanity,  and  in  giving  charac 
ter  to  a  country.  Not  only  does  a  river  have  a  great 
influence  on  the  agricultural  and  manufacturing  profits  of 
a  country,  but  on  its  products.  Without  the  great  rivers 
of  this  continent,  its  interior  would  be  comparatively  use 
less  to  our  race.  It  would  be  less  fertile,  if  not  wholly 
barren,  and  its  products  much  more  expensive  when  de 
livered  in  the  markets.  Australia*  is  an  example  of  what 
a  continent  may  be  without  rivers.  In  many  respects  the 
Nile  is  one  of  the  most  wonderful  rivers  of  our  globe,  and 
*  See  Appendix  H. 


68  TRADE    AND      LETTERS: 

well  illustrates  the  influence  of  a  river  in  giving  character 
to  a  country.  For  more  than  two  thousand  miles  of 
wandering,  it  receives  no  tributary— r-not  the  smallest. 
And  though  its  valley  was  called  the  granary  of  the  Old 
World,  and  did  actually  sustain  an  immense  population, 
and  is  still  proverbial  for  its  fertility ;  yet  the  Nile  from 
its  fountains  to  the  sea  flows  through  nothing  but  deserts. 
On  the  one  side  the  Sahara  stretches  into  the  African  con 
tinent  for  four  or  five  thousand  miles  ;  and  on  the  other, 
the  Arabian  and  Asiatic,  for  some  two  thousand  miles. 
All  the  countries  bordering  on  the  Nile  are  bounded  by 
deserts,  and  but  for  it,  they  would  themselves  have  formed 
a  part  of  the  great  deserts  of  Arabia  and  Africa. 


TRADE  OF  THE  EAST  ALWAYS  DESIRED. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  ever  since  the  dispersion  of 
mankind  from  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates,  when  some 
came  west,  and  some  went  east ;  those  who  came  west 
have  wanted  the  products  that  grew  in  the  east ;  and 
that  whatever  nation  has  been  the  carrier  of  these  pro 
ducts  from  the  east  to  the  west,  has  become  rich  and  pow 
erful  ;  and  that  along  whatever  line  this  trade  has 
vacillated,  great  cities  have  grown  up ;  and  when,  and  in 
the  degree  that  that  trade  has  been  diverted,  they  have 
generally  perished.  For  this,  the  Tyrians,  Greeks, 


THEIR     CONNECTION     AND      INFLUENCE.          69 

Romans,   Saracens,   Venetians,    Portuguese,   Dutch,   and 
English,  are  our  monumental  proof. 

Alexander  the  Great  penetrated  to  India  by  land,  but 
found  that  the  overland  route  thither  by  the  Indus  would 
not  do.  He  therefore  sent  Nearchus  with  a  fleet  down 
the  Indus  to  explore  the  Indian  Ocean  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Euphrates,  but  he  was  not  satisfied  with  the  valley  of 
the  Euphrates,  and  extended  his  idea  of  bringing  the 
wealth  of  India  to  Europe  by  the  way  of  the  Red  Sea 
and  the  Nile.  He  therefore  fixed  upon  the  western  mouth 
of  the  river,  as  the  place  for  a  great  city,  and  called  it 
after  himself,  Alexandria.  Nor  was  he  mistaken.  And 
as  Alexandria  grew  by  the  Indian  trade,  so  Petra,  Pal 
myra,  Tyre,  and  Constantinople,  declined.  Alexander's 
Syrian  successors,  and  Antiochus  the  Great,  Tamerlane, 
and  Nadir  Shah,  all  coveted  the  rich  commodities  of 
India,  and  the  countries  beyond.  They  led  armies 
thither  by  land,  or  attempted  to  do  so;  but  failed  of 
their  object.  It  is  to  Alexander  the  Great,  more  than  any 
other  man,  Europe  is  indebted  for  the  knowledge  that  a 
great  city  could  be  built  up,  and  an  empire  erected  by 
trading  with  the  East.  Alexander  the  Great*  was  the 
pioneer  of  the  English  East  India  Company. 

Mohammed,f  whether  knave  or  fanatic,  had  the  art  of 
seeing  what  would  enhance  the  power  of  his  followers. 
*  See  Appendix  I.  f  See  Appendix  J. 


70  TRADE     AND      LETTERS: 

In  his  injunction  upon  them,  to  visit  once  in  their  life 
time  the  Caaba,  or  square  building,  in  the  temple  of 
Mecca,  it  is  difficult  to  determine  whether  he  did  more  to 
awaken  and  concentrate  their  religious  feelings,  or  to 
awaken  and  extend  their  commercial  desires. 

As  the  Mohammedan  religion  spread  with  amazing 
rapidity  over  all  Asia  and  a  large  part  of  Africa,  and  as 
its  adherents  were  taught  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to  Mecca, 
so  trade  grew  with  the  extension  of  their  creed.  Com 
mercial  intercourse  by  sea  and  land  received  a  new  im 
pulse.  From  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic,  and  from  the 
distant  regions  of  the  East,  annually,  large  caravans  of 
pilgrims  wended  their  way  to  Mecca.  Commercial  ven 
tures  were  mingled  with  devotion.  Numerous  camels 
had  to  be  sold  and  bought.  Large  supplies  for  long 
journeys  had  to  be  provided.  This  bartering  and  selling, 
even  for  a  holy  pilgrimage,  quickened  their  wits,  increased 
their  knowledge  of  the  commodities  produced  in  different 
countries,  and  readily  suggested  that  a  few  camels  might 
be  loaded  on  speculation ;  and  their  utmost  ingenuity 
would  at  the  same  time  be  exerted  to  find  out  the  easiest 
mode  of  conveyance,  the  shortest  route,  the  safest  way, 
and  the  largest  sale.  The  Koran  had  expressly  taught 
them  that  they  might  trade  during  their  pilgrimage  to 
Mecca :  "  It  shall  be  no  crime  in  you,  if  ye  seek  an 


THEIK     CONNECTION    AND     INFLUENCE.          71 

increase  from  your  Lord,  by  trading  during  the  pilgrim 
age."     (Koran,  cb.  ii.,  p.  36.) 

Accordingly  the  holy  city  became  a  mart  for  commerce. 
Here  were  the  chintzes  and  muslins  of  Bengal  and  the 
Deccan,  the  shawls  of  Cashmere,  and  pepper  and  spice  of 
Malabar,  ..the  diamonds  of  Golconda,  the  pearls  of  Kil- 
care,  the  cinnamon  of  Ceylon,  the  nutmegs,  cloves,  and 
mace,  of  the  Moluccas,  the  silks  of  Persia  and  China,  and 
an  immense  quantity  of  other  oriental  commodities.  For 
a  number  of  years,  the  mercantile  transactions  of  the 
annual  fair  of  Mecca,  were  the  largest  in  the  world. 
There  was  to  be  found  whatever  was  deemed  necessary 
for  the  preservation,  and  comfort  of  life,  and  for  its  ele 
gance,  and  pleasure,  and  the  costly  things  required  for 
worship,  and  for  the  embalming  of  the  body.  Something 
to  suit  the  taste  of  every  climate,  and  the  fancy  of  every 
superstition — for  the  "infidel"  European,  the  luxurious 
Asiatic,  and  the  rude  natives  of  Africa. 

In  early  times  the  Arabs  were  satisfied  with  national 
independence,  and  personal  liberty.  They  tended  their 
camels  or  reared  their  palm-trees  within  their  own  penin 
sular  domain,  and  sought  no  further  intercourse  with  the 
rest  of  mankind,  than  to  sally  out  occasionally,  and  plun 
der  a  caravan,  or  rob  a  traveler.  But  their  conquest  of 
Egypt  changed  their  habits,  particularly  as  to  trade,  and 
their  intercourse  with  other  nations.  It  was  to  gain  and 


72  TRADE      AND      LETTERS'. 

hold  a  monopoly  of  trade,  that  Caliph  Omar  built  Bas- 
sora.  Nor  was  it  long  till  they  were  the  sole  carriers 
between  China  and  Europe.  They  pushed  their  discov 
eries  further  in  the  East,  than  had  ever  been  done  before, 
and  from  being  the  despisers  of  commerce,  civilization 
and  letters,  they  became  their  zealous  promoters,  and  did 
actually  make  a  considerable  atonement  for  the  burning 
of  the  Alexandrian  Library,  by  their  contributions  to  art, 
science,  and  literature.  Their  trade  covered  the  Indian 
Archipelago.  From  the  Red  sea  and  Persian  Gulf,  their 
vessels  plied  to  all  the  seas  and  harbors  of  China.  Many 
Mohammedans  settled  in  India,  and  in  the  countries 
beyond.  Many  of  the  inhabitants  of  India  are  Moham 
medans  to  this  day.  Indeed,  I  believe  her  majesty,  the 
Queen  of  Great  Britain,  has  more  Mohammedans  in  her 
dominions  than  the  Sultan  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  So 
numerous  were  the  Saracens,  at  one  time,  in  Canton,  that 
the  Emperor  allowed  them  a  Cadi  of  their  own  religion. 
And  the  Arabian  language  was  then  in  the  East  as  the 
lingua  Franca  is  now  in  the  Levant.  It  was  spoken  in 
almost  every  known  sea-port.  To  the  Arabs  Europe  is 
indebted  for  the  first  reliable  account  of  the  tea-tree,  and 
of  the  city  of  Canton,  and  of  the  Chinese  manufacture  of 
porcelain,  as  well  as  for  the  use  of  coffee. 

When  the  Mohammedans  became  lords  of  Egypt,  they 
would  not  allow  Christians  to  trade  through  their  empire 


T1IEIK    CONNECTION    AND    INFLUENCE.         73 

to  the  East.  Henoc,  they  were  compelled  to  seek  out  a 
way  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Saracen  empire.  Trade 
then  flowed  from  north-western  China  and  India,  to  Con 
stantinople,  by  an  interior  land  and  sea  route,  requiring  a 
journey  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hundred  days 
for  camels.  But  from  this  trade  Constantinople  immedi 
ately  received  new  life.  The  way,  however,  was  long,  and 
perilous.  The  caravans  usually  stopped  on  the  Oxus,  and 
their  goods  were  carried  down  that  river  to  the  Caspian 
sea,  up  the  river  Cyrus,  and  then  again  by  land  over  the 
portage  to  the  Phasis,  which  flows  into  the  Black  sea,  and 
thence  by  vessels  to  Constantinople.  So  much,  however, 
did  the  trade  with  India  and  China  increase  the  wealth  and 
splendor  of  this  city,  that  Robertson,  the  historian,  boldly 
asserts  that  it  retarded  for  some  time  the  decline  of  the 
whole  Roman  empire,  of  which  it  was  then  the  capital. 

When  the  trade  of  India  was  carried,  by  the  way  of 
the  Euphrates  and  the  great  Syrian  Desert,  to  the  Medi 
terranean,  then  arose  "  Tadmor  in  the  Wilderness."  It 
was  the  trade  from  the  Persian  Gulf  with  the  West  that 
raised  Palmyra  to  great  opulence  and  power.  Its  situa 
tion  amid  a  few  palm-trees,  in  the  heart  of  the  Desert, 
was  unique.  Its  form  of  government,  however,  was 
republican,  which,  according  even  to  Robertson,  "  is  the 
best  suited  to  the  genius  of  a  commercial  city."  With 
no  other  source  of  power  and  aggrandizement  than  the 


74  TRADE      AND      LETTERS.' 

profits  of  the  trade  between  the  Euphrates  and  the  Medi 
terranean,  it  grew  in  the  heart  of  the  Desert,  to  most 
astonishing  wealth.  Amid  powerful  and  ambitious  neigh 
bors,  it  long  maintained  its  splendor,  and  even  rivaled 
Rome  itself.  Egypt,  Syria,  Mesopotamia,  and  a  large 
portion  of  Asia  Minor,  were  conquered  by  its  arms,  and 
its  Queen,  Zenobia,  contested  dominion  with  one  of  the 
most  warlike  Roman  Emperors. 

When  the  trade  of  the  East  changed  from  the  Persian 
to  the  Arabian  Gulf,  then  Babylon,  Bassora,  Palmyra, 
and  Tyre  declined,  and  Petra  became  the  storehouse  of 
Europe,  and  subsequently  Alexandria,  and  those  cities 
respectively,  on  the  western  side  of  the  Mediterranean, 
which  became  its  distributors  of  oriental  merchandise.  I 
have  not  time  now  to  show  why  the  West  has  always 
coveted  the  treasures  of  the  East ;  nor  why  it  is  that 
oriental  commodities  are  different  from  those  of  the  West. 
But  it  is  doubtless  a  wise  and  beneficent  Providence.  As 
the  saltness,  and  eternal  heaving  of  the  ocean  are  or 
dained  for  good,  so  are  the  respective  products  of  the 
different  parts  of  the  globe  adjusted  in  such  a  way  as  to 
call  forth  effort  and  intercourse  among  men.  There  is 
doubtless  the  same  philosophical  necessity,  and  kind 
design,  in  the  relative  condition  of  the  different  parts  of 
our  globe,  and  its  diversified  products,  that  there  is  in  the 
mutual  attractions  of  the  sexes.  Whatever  may  be  the 


THEIR     CONNECTION     AND     INFLUENCE.          75 
•      • 

philosophy  of  the  matter,  the  fact  is  plain  enough.  So 
important  has  the  trade  of  the  East  been  deemed  in  all 
ages,  both  ancient  and  modern,  that  every  nation  and  city, 
of  any  life,  or  lofty  aspirations,  has  struggled  to  obtain  it, 
and  whatever  city  or  nation  has  monopolized  it,  has 
thereby  grown  rich,  and  predominant  in  influence.  In 
proof  of  this,  you  need  only  turn  to  the  history  of  Tyre, 
Palmyra,  Babylon,  Petra,  Byzantium,  and  Alexandria  ; 
and  of  Venice,  "  the  bride  of  the  sea ;"  of  Genoa,  "  the 
superb,  the  city  of  places ;"  of  Florence,  the  home  of  the 
arts ;  and  of  her  daughter  Bruges,  the  great  store-house 
of  her  merchants  for  Europe,  under  the  Hanseatic  league, 
of  Antwerp,  Lisbon,  and  London.  And  in  all  these  cases, 
not  equally,  but  in  all,  prominently  does  it  appear,  that,  as 
the  oriental  trade  has  enriched  European  cities,  so  have 
they  become  the  homes  of  manufactures  and  the  patrons 
of  learning  and  science. 

The  discovery  of  a  way  to  India  by  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  by  Vasco  de  Gama,  led  to  great  revolutions,  not 
only  in  the  course  of  commerce,  but  also  in  the  political 
state  of  Europe.  Portugal  pushed  her  trade  at  once 
into  the  East  with  such  energy  and  judgment  that  she 
soon  built  up  a  commercial  empire  to  which,  for  splen 
dor  and  opulence,  and  also  for  the  genius  by  which  it  was 
governed,  other  nations  could  offer  no  parallel. 

We  may  form  some  idea  also  of  the  profits  of  the  trade 


76  TKADEAND      LETTERS! 

carried  on  by  the  Venetians,  previous  to  the  discoveries  of 
De  Gama,  with  the  East,  from  the  interest  they  paid  on 
money.  By  a  treaty  with  Sultan  Mahmoud,  they  monop 
olized  the  trade  of  Alexandria  with  Europe,  and  so  profit 
able  was  this  trade,  that  they  could  pay  20  per  cent 
premium  for  money,  and  sometimes  even  a  higher  rate. 
The  premium  paid  for  the  use  of  money  is,  perhaps,  the 
best  standard  by  which  to  measure  the  profits  arising 
from  the  capital  stock  employed  in  commerce.  During 
this  time  of  high  interest,  the  wealth  of  Venice,  individual 
and  public,  increased  almost  beyond  description  or  belief. 
The  magnificence  of  the  houses  of  her  merchants,  and  tho 
richness  of  their  furniture,  and  the  profusion  of  their  plate, 
and  their  revenues  were  greater  than  those  of  the  reigning 
princes  of  most  other  countries. 

Two  great  events,  however,  caused  the  glory  to  depart 
forever  from  Venice,  which  she  could  neither  have  foreseen 
nor  have  prevented.  These  events  have  been  already 
named — the  passage  to  India  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
and  the  discovery  of  America.  The  seats  of  power  and 
wealth  were  now  changed.  Portugal  and  Spain  rose  to 
wealth,  but  Spain  did  not  become  commercial  or  literary, 
and  consequently  her  wealth  was  neither  abiding  nor  ben" 
eficial.  The  immense  treasures  of  the  New  World  were 
poured  into  her  lap,  but  it  was  merely  to  be  consumed. 
It  was  not  employed  in  productive  industry,  nor  distrib- 


THEIR     CONNECTION     AND     INFLUENCE.          77 

uted  by  trade,  nor  devoted  by  the  promotion  of  science 
and  general  intelligence.  She  built  some  cathedrals,  and 
palaces,  and  gilded  domes  ;  but,  with  immense  wealth  and 
domains,  she  sank  into  commercial  torpor,  ignorance, 
and  poverty :  and,  like  Venice,  she  leaves  scarcely  an 
honorable  name  to  posterity,  as  the  child  of  her  glory  in 
the  New  World. 

Productive  industry  is  essential  to  the  permanent  pros 
perity  of  a  country.  The  Holland  of  to-day  is  not  the 
Holland  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries. 
"What  is  there  now  to  be  seen  in  the  almost  deserted 
streets  of  Delft,  Leyden,  and  Haarlem,  but  the  sweet, 
hopeful  faces  of  the  Dutch  women,  who  seem  to  be  wait 
ing,  like  the  women  at  the  sepulcher,  for  the  return  of  the 
glory  of  the  Low  Countries.  "The  grass  now  grows 
through  the  seams  of  the  brick  pavements,  and  ragged 
clothes  flutter  in  the  wind,  out  of  the  drawing-room  case 
ments  of  the  palaces;  and  the  echo  of  wooden  shoes, 
clattering  through  empty  saloons,  tells  of  past  magnifi 
cence  and  present  indigence."  Why  are  the  streets  of 
Holland's  cities  silent,  and  her  canals  green  with  undis 
turbed  slime  ?  Because  her  commercial  prosperity  was 
not  supported  by  productive  industry.  Her  capital  was 
not  employed  in  producing  what  man  consumes.  She 
had  scholars,  theologians,  and  artists.  Her  literature 
grew  with  her  commerce ;  but  her  genius  and  wealth 


78  TRADE    AND     LETTERS: 

were  not  so  employed  as  to  multiply  her  thinkers  and 
workers,  and  keep  command  of  the  markets  of  the  world. 
Her  fields  and  shops  did  not  keep  pace  with  her  ships  and 
counting-rooms.  She  had  no  public  schools  nor  mercan 
tile  libraries.  She  was  a  mere  broker  for  other  countries ; 
and,  as  soon  as  they  could  become  their  own  brokers,  she 
was  left  behind  in  the  race,  and  has  finally  buried  herself 
within  her  own  dykes ;  a  plain  proof  that  national  great 
ness  always  implies  progress.  As  soon  as  a  nation  ceases 
to  grow,  it  begins  to  decay.  Venice,  Holland,  and  Spain 
are  a  demonstration  that  the  greatness  of  a  nation  depends 
not  on  the  amount  of  its  wealth,  but  on  the  employment 
and  distribution  of  its  wealth,  and  its  power  to  create 
wealth.  This  implies  intelligence,  industry,  and  integrity. 
A  people  pre-eminent  in  agricultural  skill,  and  in  manu 
facturing  and  in  mining  skill,  are  prepared  to  sustain  vast 
commercial  enterprises.  The  riches  and  glory  of  the 
world  lie  at  their  feet.  The  productions  of  all  climes  are 
at  their  command.  The  means  of  enjoyment  and  of  ad 
vancement  are  in  their  hands. 

IY.  FINTE  ARTS  AND  USEFUL  ARTS. 

We  have  some  knowledge  of  cities  and  empires  partly 

commercial  and  partly  military — of  commercial  greatness 

and  military  renown — that  have  perished.     It  remains  for 

us  to  combine  these  with  popular  intelligence  and  a  high 


TIIEIE     CONNECTION     AND     INFLUENCE.          79 

moral  culture,  and  by  productive  industry  make  our 
material  prosperity  progressive  and  abiding.  In  pleading 
for  the  highest  mental  culture,  I  do  not  sympathize  with 
the  reproaches  that  are  cast  upon  us  as  a  cold,  machine- 
calculating,  utilitarian  people.  After  all,  what  does  this 
cloud-rocked,  dreamy  love  of  the  fine  arts,  in  contradis 
tinction  to  the  useful  arts,  do  for  the  improvement  of  our 
race  ?  In  developing  the  mental  powers  and  moral  quali 
ties  of  human  nature,  they  are  not  equal  to  works  of  be 
nevolence,  nor  to  the  common  useful  arts.  I  have  yet  to 
learn  that  the  painter,  the  sculptor,  the  musician,  or  the 
theatrical  performer,  is  really  a  more  cultivated,  more  in 
tellectual,  more  refined  and  benevolent,  or  more  moral 
member  of  society  than  the  manufacturer,  the  mechanic 
ian,  the  engineer,  the  shopkeeper,  or  the  merchant.  I 
have  yet  to  learn  that  the  city  of  Rome,  the  mother  of  the 
fine  arts,  possesses  a  higher  grade  of  morals,  of  intellect 
and  piety,  than  Manchester  or  Boston.  The  fact  is,  lest 
we  should  be  called  New  Zealanders  or  Digger  Indians,  or 
what  is  worse,  unmannerly  clowns,  and  be  excommuni 
cated  from  the  pale  of  fashion,  we  are  wont  to  attach  an 
undue  importance  to  the  fine  arts  of  the  white  kid  tribe. 
I  do  not  consider  a  picture,  a  statue,  or  a  palace,  so  high 
an  effort  of  human  faculties,  as  a  foundery,  a  printing- 
press,  a  cotton-mill,  or  a  ship.  Homer,  Virgil,  Dante, 
Milton,  Shakspearc,  Phidias,  Praxiteles,  Raphael,  Michael 


80  TRADE   AND    LETTERS: 

Angelo,  Canova,  were  great,  sublimely  great,  immortal 
men ;  but  greater  still  are  the  scientific  inventors  and  pro 
ducers  in  the  useful  arts.  The  inventors  of  the  spade,  the 
shovel,  and  the  hoe,  of  movable  types,  ship-masts  and  til 
ler-ropes,  power-presses  and  telegraph  wires,  have  wielded 
a  greater  influence  for  good  than  all  the  royal  heads  that 
have  ever  lived.  They  have  opened  up  the  earth  and 
called  forth  its  treasures  for  man's  good.  The  exponent 
of  the  civilization  and  intellectual  progress  of  our  race 
now  is  not  a  statue,  but  a  steam-engine — not  an  epic,  but 
a  telegraph.  The  toiling  teacher  who  awakens  thought 
and  belabors  a  single  mind  into  a  consciousness  of  mental 
power,  does  more  good  than  all  the  lisping  amateurs  that 
could  hop  and  bow  about  in  a  saloon  as  long  as  from  the 
Golden  Gate  to  John  O'Groat's  house.  The  hard-handed 
manufacturer,  who  makes  a  printed  cotton  handkerchief, 
and  the  tarry-fingered  sailor  who  carries  that  handker 
chief  to  Africa,  to  adorn  the  woolly  head  of  the  ebony- 
faced  daughters  of  the  Mountains  of  the  Moon,  have  done 
more  for  civilization  and  the  extension  of  humanizing  in 
fluences,  than  all  the  poets  and  professors  of  dillettanteism 
in  the  world. 

I  would  seek  for  the  general  elevation  of  all  classes  of 
society,  of  the  farmer  and  the  mechanic,  of  the  trader  and 
merchant,  as  well  as  of  the  learned  professions — because 
in  our  age  all  have  peculiar  opportunities  for  mental  and 


THEIR    CONNECTION    AND    INFLUENCE.          81 

moral  improvement,  and  great  moral  responsibility  rests 
upon  all.  History  shows  that  as  a  people  improve  in 
knowledge,  so  their  wants  will  increase,  and  the  deeper 
will  be  their  sensibility  to  their  wants,  and  consequently, 
if  they  have  the  means  of  gratifying  them,  the  more  they 
will  advance  in  civilization.  It  is  plain,  therefore,  that 
the  increase  of  luxuries  may  be  made  a  blessing,  and  not 
a  curse.  And  of  all  people  in  the  world,  it  is  the  most 
important  that  Americans  should  know  how  to  possess 
themselves  of  the  power  to  pass  hours  of  leisure  either  in 
solitary  meditation,  or  of  social  discussion  on  the  origin 
and  nature  of  the  human  mind,  and  on  the  high  duties  of 
free  and  enlightened  citizenship. 

To  govern  others,  we  must  first  govern  ourselves,  and 
be  established  in  virtuous  habits,  and  our  understanding 
enlightened  with  that  knowledge  which  will  enable  us 
clearly  to  discern  why  we  are  called  into  existence,  and 
also  as  to  what  is  due  from  us  to  others,  and  to  our  Cre 
ator  as  well  as  to  ourselves. 

V.  PROVIDENCE  DESIGNS  THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE 

NATIONS.* 

It  is  a  singular  Providence,  that  the  discovery  of  Amer 
ica  and  of  the  passage  to  India  by  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,   should    have    occurred    so    nearly   at   the    same 
*  See  Appendix  K. 


82  TKADEAND     LETTERS! 

time.  In  all  ages  the  commodities  of  the  East  have  been 
purchased  with  the  precious  metals.  As  the  demand  for 
oriental  commodities  was  increased  in  Europe,  by  the 
opening  up  of  the  route  thither  by  the  Cape,  so  it  was 
necessary  that  the  supply  of  gold  and  silver  should  "be 
increased.  It  was  therefore  just  at  the  time  that  Europe 
was  drained,  that  America  opened  her  mines,  and  poured 
her  treasure  into  the  lap  of  the  old  world,  far  beyond 
what  had  ever  before  been  known.  And  from  that  day 
to  this  the  productions  of  India  and  China,  if  we  except 
the  "  damning  trade"  in  opium,  have  been  purchased 
chiefly  with  the  silver  of  Peru  and  Mexico.  Nor  is  this 
the  only  way  in  which  the  new  world  has  supplied  the 
exhausted  stores  of  the  old.  Her  granary  has  poured 
forth  bread  to  her  millions,  and  furnished  the  raw  mate 
rial  that  has  clothed  and  fed  millions  more,  and  but  for 
the  gold  of  California,  the  great  nations  now  at  war, 
would  have  been  unable  to  set  their  squadrons  in  the  field, 
or  man  their  fleets  before  Sebastopol,  or  Cronstadt. 

I  am  well  aware  that  the  connection  I  advocate  between 
Trade  and  Letters,  and  their  joint  and  reciprocal  influence 
on  the  progress  of  nations,  is  in  whole,  or  in  part  'denied. 
But  I  submit  candidly  and  confidently  that  the  true  read 
ing  of  history  makes  it  "  palpable  to  the  thinking,"  that 
with  a  revival  of  the  commercial  spirit  of  Europe,  we  had 
a  revival  of  Letters,  and  a  grand  epoch  in  the  progress  of 


THEIR     CONNECTION    AND     INFLUENCE.          83 

nations.  The  same  thing  is  seen,  in  ancient  as  well  as  in 
modern  times.  In  the  eighteenth  dynasty  of  Egypt,  her 
Augustan  age,  that  kingdom  was  greatly  in  advance  of 
the  rest  of  mankind  in  the  knowledge  of  agriculture  as 
an  art,  and  in  the  extent  of  her  foreign  commerce.  And 
in  all  that  remains  of  that  dynasty,  we  have  evidences  of 
a  high  state  of  the  arts,  of  skill  and  labor,  and  of  ex 
tended  trade,  and  as  a  consequence  its  monumental  his 
tory  tells  us  that  during  that  dynasty  there  was  a  great 
increase  both  of  public  and  private  wealth  by  foreign 
trade.*  The  very  same  thing  is  true  of  the  Hebrew  mon 
archy  under  Solomon.  His  ships  were  the  world's  car 
riers.  Its  gold  therefore  filled  his  capital.  His  kingdom 
was  more  extensive  than  the  Hebrew  dominions  had  ever 
been  before,  or  than  they  ever  were  afterward.  But  who 
of  all  Israel's  kings  was  an  author  and  patron  of  Letters, 
like  the  royal  preacher,  the  son  of  David  ?  Is  it  not  by 
her  commercial  genius  that  Europe  discerns  the  respect 
ive  wants  and  resources  of  all  the  other  great  nations  of 
the  earth,  and  by  rendering  them  reciprocally  subservient 
to  one  another,  has  gained  a  tremendous  power  over 
them,  and  derived  from  them  an  immense  increase  of 
opulence,  power,  and  elegant  enjoyment  ?  It  is  also  a 
notable  fact  that  the  promoting  causes  of  the  progress  of 
nations,  the  moral  and  physical  improvements  of  society, 
*  See  Osborne's  "  Monumental  History  of  Egypt,"  vol.  i.,  376,  377. 


84  TRADE    AND      LETTERS! 

have  not  had  their  rise  among  hierarchies,  aristocracies 
and  the  proprietors  of  entailed  landed  estates.  Too  often 
have  the  exploits  of  conquerors  who  have  desolated  the 
earth,  and  the  freaks  of  tyrants  who  have  slaughtered 
whole  nations,  been  recorded  with  a  disgusting  accuracy, 
and  fulsome  adulation,  while  the  discovery  of  useful  arts, 
and  the  progress  of  the  most  beneficial  branches  of  trade, 
have  been  passed  over  in  silence,  and  suffered  to  sink  into 
oblivion.  The  great  moral  and  physical  improvements  of 
society  have  usually  begun  with  practical,  hard-working 
men,  who  have  most  keenly  felt  their  necessity.  Almost 
all  improvements  in  conducting  business,  inventions,  and 
discoveries,  have  had  their  origin  among  a  hard-working 
and  trading  people.  It  is  the  mercantile  class  and  the 
active  and  industrious  mechanic  that  tread  on  the  heels  of 
what  has  already  been  achieved,  and  therefore  feel  the 
necessity  of  doing  something  by  which  they  can  ad 
vance.  When  the  analysis  of  soils,  or  the  invention  of 
machinery,  or  the  deep  thinking  and  profound  experi- 
mentings  of  the  laboratory  have  brought  to  light  some 
thing  that  can  be  turned  to  the  use  of  the  laborer,  it  is 
the  trading  town  that  fosters  it  and  pays  for  it.  Every 
extension  of  commerce  is  like  opening  a  new  avenue  for 
blessings  upon  society.  As  commerce  is  enlarged,  so  is 
labor  divided,  and  the  demand  for  money,  and  exchange, 
and  handicraft  of  every  kind,  increased.* 
*  See  Appendix  L. 


THEIR     CONNECTION     AND     INFLUENCE.          85 

And  the  very  magnitude  of  the  commercial  transac 
tions  of  our  day,  enhances  the  obligation  to  high  morality 
in  trade.  An  enlargement  of  commerce  carries  with  it  an 
augmented  necessity  for  punctuality  and  integrity.  If  in 
tegrity  is  not  the  rule  of  a  trade  that  encircles  the  globe, 
and  is  spoken  in  a  hundred  tongues,  exposure,  decline, 
and  ruin  are  certain  consequences.  The  more  money  we 
have,  and  the  more  extended  our  credit  and  trade,  the 
greater  is  the  necessity  for  rigid  business  morality.  And 
in  spite  of  the  forgeries  and  frauds  that  disgrace  our  age 
from  Australia  and  California  to  New  York,  London,  and 
Paris,  I  dare  affirm,  and  that  without  eulogizing  the  piety 
of  our  merchant  princes,  that  modern  trade  gains  every 
year  in  the  standard  of  a  high  morality.  The  appearance 
to  the  contrary  lies  on  the  surface,  and  is  chiefly  among 
officials  rather  than  in  legitimate  trade,  and  appears  great 
er  than  it  really  is  by  comparison,  because  the  comparison 
is  made  with  commercial  transactions  much  more  extend 
ed  both  as  to  their  territory  and  their  intrinsic  amounts — 
and  also  because  wherever  the  English  tongue  is  their  ve 
hicle,  there  great  publicity  is  given  to  every  instance  of 
bad  faith,  or  of  dishonesty.  It  is  absolutely  certain  that 
trade  can  not  thrive  or  be  a  permanent  blessing  without  a 
rigid  morality.  As  religion  is  contaminated  by  hypo 
crites,  as  statesmanship  is  brought  into  discredit  by  noisy 

politicians,  so  is  trade  degraded  by  rogues.     But  its  legit- 
8 


86  TKADEAND     LETTERS: 

imate  tendency  is  to  enlarge  the  mind,  and  to  produce 
punctuality  and  honesty.  Dishonest  traders  are  false  to 
their  calling. 


VI.    LABOR-SAVING  MACHINERY. 

Smith  and  McCulloch,  great  names  on  such  a  subject, 
tell  us  that  the  saving  of  labor  and  time  by  machinery, 
and  by  a  division  of  labor,  adds  to  national  wealth,  for  it 
enables  the  laborer  to  employ  his  time  and  strength  in 
other  employments,  or  to  devote  himself  to  such  practice 
and  pursuits  as  may  enable  him  to  reach  higher  perfection 
in  his  chosen  art  or  trade.  All  that  is  wanted,  then,  is 
room  and  means,  for  all  to  find  productive  employment, 
and  then,  the  more  laborers,  and  the  more  labor  by  ma 
chinery,  the  greater  will  be  the  product  of  our  industry, 
and  consequently,  the  greater  will  be  the  strength  of  the 
country.  Every  pound  of  steam  employed  in  pumping 
water  out  of  the  mines,  or  in  moving  machinery,  or  in 
grinding  grain  or  quartz,  adds  to  our  national  wealth,  be 
cause  the  men  that  would  be  employed  in  pumping  out 
the  water,  or  in  grinding  by  hand  engines,  or  implements 
in  their  own  unaided  strength,  can  be  occupied  with  other 
productive  labors.  If  there  were  not  room  for  all  who 
want  employment — if  there  were  not  millions  of  acres 
that  want  hands — her  labor-saving  machinery  might  in- 


THEIK     CONNECTION     AND     INFLUENCE.          87 

terfere  with  the  profits  of  the  poor  man's  toil.  But  while 
the  door  is  open,  as  with  us,  and  motives  are  presented  for 
more  and  higher  inventions,  and  increased  labor,  there  is 
not  wanting  any  thing  needful  to  call  forth  our  energies. 
We  have  capital,  commerce,  and  foreign  markets,  we  have 
rich  lands,  mines  of  coal,  lead,  silver  and  gold.  We  have 
every  thing  to  produce  a  national  pre-eminence,  such  as 
the  world  has  never  known,  if  we  are  faithful  to  the  be 
hests  of  Providence. 


VII.   DOMESTIC    AND   FOREIGN    TRADE. 

Without  the  activity,  physical  and  mental,  produced 
by,  and  necessary  to,  the  carrying  on  of  extensive  do 
mestic  and  foreign  trade,  popular  intelligence  would  be 
a  thing  unknown.  The  great  advantage  of  trade  to  a 
city  and  a  State  consists  in  this  :  it  pushes  the  division  of 
labor  to  the  furthest  extent,  and  brings  its  population 
under  the  strongest  motives  to  exertion,  and  supplies 
them  with  many  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life,  which, 
by  their  own  individual  efforts,  they  could  not  procure- 
As  commerce  is  not  a  direct  but  an  indirect  source  of 
wealth,  it  must  be  both  domestic  and  foreign.  The  capi 
tal  of  a  nation  must  be  employed  in  productive  industry 
within  itself,  as  well  as  in  sending  out  ships  to  other 
lands.  McCulloch  declares,  there  is  "  no  reason  for  think- 


88  TKADE     AND      LETTERS! 

ing  that  we  should  have  been  at  this  day  advanced  be 
yond  the  point  to  which  our  ancestors  had  attained  during 
the  Heptarchy,  had  Great  Britain  been  cut  off  from  all 
intercourse  with  strangers.  It  is  to  the  products  and  the 
arts  derived  from  others,  and  to  the  emulation  inspired  by 
their  competition  and  example,  that  we  are  mainly  indebt 
ed  for  the  extraordinary  progress  we  have  already  made, 
as  well  as  for  that  we  are  yet  destined  to  make." 

There  are  rural  districts  in  Europe  and  in  our  trans- 
montane  States,  where  the  father  of  a  family  lives  and 
dies  as  if  tethered  to  the  column  of  his  own  chimney's 
smoke,  unable  to  give  the  traveler  the  necessary  directions 
to  find  his  way  to  the  neighboring  village,  whose  church 
steeple  has  glittered  in  the  sunshine  before  him  all  his  life 
time.  But  it  is  not  so  in  the  trading  village.  The  shrill 
morning  cry  of  the  newsboy  with  red  nose  and  ragged 
elbow  is  a  potent  call  to  thought,  to  inquiry,  and  to 
reflections  that  lead  to  knowledge.  In  a  traveling  and 
trading  community  without  formal  text  books  and  set 
Lours  in  study,  there  is  a  sharp  process  of  education  going 
on  all  the  time.  Knowledge  like  sparks  from  a  flint  is 
flying  about.  And  here  and  there,  the  sparks  will  catch, 
and  acuteness,  and  expansion,  and  power  of  mind  will 
appear.  Without  intercourse  between  different  commu 
nities  there  is  but  little  variety  of  occupation.  A  dull 
monotony  like  a  nightmare  lies  upon  the  character.  It  is 


THEIR     CONNECTION     AND     INFLUENCE.          89 

when  trade  opens  up  a  market  for  the  products  of  the 
milk  of  the  dairy,  the  shop  and  the  poultry-yard,  that 
there  is  an  awakening  and  a  competition.  And  out  of 
this  ambition  of  style,  of  fashion,  and  feeling  of  rivalry, 
something  good  may  come.  It  is  as  men  have  settled 
dwelling-places,  and  begin  to  adorn  their  homes,  that  they 
will  begin  to  think  of  books  and  pictures,  and  indulge  in 
intellectual  pleasures.  And  as  is  the  demand  so  will  the 
supply  be.  Accordingly  the  literature  of  commercial 
nations  is  not  composed  chiefly  of  such  materials  as 
entered  into  the  prevailing  literature  of  the  age  of  Per 
icles,  of  Augustus,  or  of  Louis  XIV.  The  literature  that 
prevails  in  any  community  acts  upon  it,  and  then  is  itself 
affected.  The  patronage  it  receives  is  the  air  upon  which 
it  lives.  It  is  a  reflection  of  the  public  taste.  It  is  a 
Texas  tree-frog,  that  is  black  or  green  according  to  the 
prevailing  color  of  the  branches  where  it  finds  lodging. 
And  hence  the  style  and  form  of  literature  are  subject  to 
changes  like  the  furniture  of  a  drawing-room,  or  the  con 
tents  of  a  wardrobe.  Again,  apart  from  the  INCENTIVES 
of  trade,  the  higher  developments  of  intellect  in  relation 
to  science  would  never  have  been  made.  Mental  capaci 
ties  of  the  highest  order  are  required  for  the  management 
of  commercial  affairs.  The  making  or  the  losing  of 
large  fortunes  sometimes  depends  upon  the  information 
that  comprises  a  knowledge  of  markets  and  supplies  all 


90  TKADE     AND     LETTERS: 

over  the  globe.  The  result  of  an  operation  depending  of 
course  upon  the  information  as  to  its  being  correct  and 
timely,  or  incorrect,  or  too  late.  And  hence  it  is  that  few 
statesmen  have  been  superior  to  those  that  have  grown  up 
in  the  midst  of  great  commercial  cities,  or  have  represent 
ed  great  mercantile  interests* — the  great  mass  of  those 
engaged  in  trade,  and  even  of  those  who  in  trading  com 
munities  are  citizens  of  the  world.  And  as  their  knowl 
edge  of  mankind  is  extended  by  mingling  in  the  great 
world  around  them,  so  their  prejudices  are  modified. 
And  the  consciousness  that  they  are  citizens  of  the  great 
world,  combined  with  the  power  that  wealth  gives,  makes 
their  homes  the  centers,  where  nearly  all  the  civil  liberty 
of  mankind  has  been  preserved,  and  from  which  it  has 
been  diffused  among  the  nations.  It  is  said  that  the  ab 
sorption  of  the  mind  of  a  shop-keeping  and  trading  peo 
ple  is  so  great,  that  they  are  incapable  of  appreciating  the 
beauty  of  Letters — that  the  highest  culture  can  only  be 
reached  by  men  of  a  higher  order  of  genius  and  more 
devoted  to  the  pursuit  of  knowledge,  than  belongs  to  the 
producers,  carriers,  and  brokers  of  mankind.  But  I 
apprehend  it  requires  no  argument  to  prove  that  a 
taste  for  literature  and  the  refinements  of  good  society 
may  be  attained  without  matriculation  into  College  Halls. 
It  may  be  created  and  elevated  by  the  means  and  embel- 
*  See  Appendix  M. 


TIIEIE    CONNECTION    AND    INFLUENCE.         91 

iishments  of  life  procured  through  trade  and  by  inter 
course  with  the  world.  What  is  called  a  liberal  educa 
tion  is  greatly  to  be  desired.  Colleges  and  Universities 
are  essential  to  the  development  of  a  nation's  strength. 
But  if  the  encouragement  of  the  fine  arts  in  Europe  and 
America  had  been  left  wholly  to  noble  blood  and  that 
order  of  genius  that  can  alone  fully  appreciate  works  of 
art,  and  the  higher  pursuits  of  literature,  then  our  race 
had  been  deprived  of  nine  tenths  of  all  that  is  now  our 
boast.* 

VI I L    CONNECTION     OF     TRADE     AND 
LETTERS. 

There  are  honored  names,  and  not  a  few,  that  might 
be  given  in  proof  of  the  connection  that  may,  and  ought 
to  exist  between  trade  and  letters,  and  of  the  progress 
of  nations  in  benevolence  and  science,  as  they  have  in 
creased  in  wealth  and  power.  The  wealthiest  men  of 
Europe  in  their  day,  were  Cosmo  and  Lorenzo  de  Medici.f 
And  yet  they  were  merchants,  farmers,  bankers,  and  min 
ers,  and  more  pre-eminent  still  for  their  generosity  and  de 
votion  to  letters.  To  this  family  belongs  the  honor  of 
having  restored  the  empire  of  science  and  true  taste  to 
Europe  after  a  dreary  night  of  darkness.  By  their  efforts 
many  valuable  manuscripts  were  saved  from  total  destruc- 

*  See  Appendix  N.  f  See  Appendix  0. 


92  TRADE     AND     LETTERS: 

tion.  The  Medici  thought  the  discovery  of  a  manuscript 
equivalent  to  the  conquest  of  a  kingdom.  It  is  doubtful 
if  we  are  not  indebted  to  them  for  most  of  the  perfect  cop 
ies  now  known  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  classics.  It  is 
remarkable  too,  tliat  Providence  should  have  raised  up 
these  men  to  find  and  preserve  so  many  valuable  manu 
scripts  just  before  the  invention  of  printing,  and  just  be 
fore  the  wonderful  extension  of  discoveries  and  trade. 
The  Medici  were  educated  as  merchants,  and  yet  devoted 
their  energies  for  a  long  life  time  to  collect  manuscripts, 
and  found  libraries,  and  extend  their  commercial  relations. 
In  the  period  of  thirty  years,  they  are  known  to  have  ex 
pended  in  relieving  the  poor,  nearly  seven  hundred  thou 
sand  florins.  Their  wealth  followed  chiefly  from  their 
monopoly  of  the  trade  of  the  East,  but  amid  all  the  care 
and  complications  of  increasing  commercial  relations,  and 
of  making  improvements  in  manufacturing,  and  on  their 
Italian  farms  and  vines,  they  never  seemed  to  lose  sight  of 
man's  true  dignity ;  nor  of  the  proper  objects  of  his  re 
gard.  The  same  re-union  of  a  commercial  spirit  with 
generosity,  and  the  promotion  of  popular  education  is  seen 
in  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain.  Who  but  mer 
chants  enabled  Lady  Franklin  to  continue  her  long  search 
for  a  lost  but  gallant  husband  ?  And  who  but  a  merchant 
and  a  banker  (Grinnell  and  Peabody)  have  sent  out  the 
exploring  expedition  under  the  heroic  Kane  ? 


THEIK     CONNECTION     AND     INFLUENCE.          93 

Again,  as  trading  towns  and  cities  are  but  storehouses 
of  commerce,  we  are  justified  in  considering  their  relation 
to  science  and  education  as  a  proof  of  the  connection 
which  exists  between  trade  and  letters.  I  speak  not  now 
of  the  materials — the  facts  and  discoveries  that  trade  has 
contributed  to  science  and  literature,  but  of  the  fact, 
that  commercial  and  scientific  knowledge  are  interwoven 
in  the  texture  of  all  cities.  Without  the  mental  activ 
ity  natural  to  men  associated  together,  there  would  have 
been  but  little,  if  any  progress  in  any  department  of 
human  knowledge,  and  consequently  no  advance  in  civil 
rights.  In  the  monumental  fragments  of  the  great  cities 
of  other  days  we  are  able  to  trace  their  developments  of 
thought,  reasoning,  imagination  and  taste.  It  may  be 
that  the  patronage  of  letters  and  science  by  trade  and 
wealth  is,  in  some  measure,  mercenary  and  vain.  There 
is,  indeed,  something  of  vanity  and  selfishness  in  all  human 
enterprises;  but  the  encouragement  to  art  and  science 
is  none  the  less  real.  It  is  of  but  little  moment  to  our 
Powers,  whether  the  order  inclosing  five  thousand  dollars 
for  a  bust  flows  from  domestic  affection,  from  patriotic 
fervor,  or  from  vanity  or  pedantry.  It  is  enough  for  the 
toiling  chemist,  artist,  teacher,  or  author,  that  his  works 
are  appreciated  at  least  so  far  as  to  get  abroad  in  the 
world,  and  procure  bread  for  him  and  his,  and  a  fair  op 
portunity  for  him  to  work  out  his  mission.  We  can  not 


94  T  HADE    AND      LET  TEES! 

always  be  worshiping  the  beautiful  in  the  gilded,  seques 
tered  Madeleine  of  our  imagination.  We  have  to  do  with 
stern  realities,  that  require  the  useful  as  well  as  the  beau 
tiful.  We  must  draw  inspiration  then  from  Arkwright, 
Watt,  Fulton,  and  Davy,  as  well  as  from  Canova,  Milton, 
Aristotle,  and  the  divine  Plato. 

The  investigation  of  this  subject  has  impressed  upon 
my  mind  some  remarks  which  I  have  seen  in  the  news 
papers  about  New  York  and  Canton.  The  contrast  is  a 
striking  illustration  of  the  influence  of  Christian  Letters 
on  national  well-being.  The  contrast  is  to  the  following 
effect.  New  York  and  Canton  are  about  the  same  size  as 
to  population.  The  one  is  the  great  commercial  empo 
rium  of  the  East,  as  the  other  is  of  the  West.  They  are 
on  nearly  opposite  sides  of  the  planet.  One  particular  is 
selected  as  an  exponent  of  the  known  and  unknown 
well  being  of  humanity  in  the  two  cities.  In  Canton 
while  they  were  chopping  off  heads  at  the  rate  of  about 
eight  hundred  per  clay,  until  some  seventy  thousand  vic 
tims  were  executed,  many  of  whom  were  skinned  alive 
and  then  hacked  to  pieces  at  the  leisure  or  pleasure  of  the 
executioners,  on  the  other  hand  in  the  western  empo 
rium,  the  same  mail  that  brought  us  the  news  of  the  Can 
ton  executions,  informed  us  that  the  New  Yorkers  were 
looking  at  the  happy  faces  and  listening  to  the  simple 
songs  of  three  thousand  children,  whom  misfortune  had 


THEIR     CONNECTION     AND     INFLUENCE.          95 

placed  in  need  of  their  kindness.  Now  why  this  differ 
ence  ?  Canton  is  ten  times  older  than  New  York,  and 
should,  therefore,  be  ten  times  wiser  ?  In  manufacturing 
industry,  too,  Canton  is  in  advance  of  her  western  rival. 
Fifty  thousand  persons  are  said  to  be  employed  in  manu 
facturing  cloth  in  Canton,  and  nearly  twenty  thousand  in 
silk  weaving,  and  the  workers  in  wood,  stone,  iron,  brass, 
and  leather,  beyond  computation.  Nor  is  Canton  poor  in 
literature,  such  as  it  is.  She  has  fourteen  high  schools, 
and  about  thirty  colleges.  Her  commerce  is  large,  but 
she  herself  is  a  mere  depot  or  storehouse.  The  ships  that 
trade  with  her  are  not  hers,  nor  do  they  belong  to  her 
side  of  the  world.  They  rest  at  her  wharves  as  mere 
birds  of  passage.  The  root  of  the  difference  then 
between  these  cities  lies  in  the  difference  there  is  between 
a  false  and  a  true  religion.  Canton  has  one  hundred  and 
twenty  temples,  while  New  York  has  one  hundred  and 
sixty  Christian  Churches.  The  temples  of  Canton  are 
dedicated  to  a  horrid  superstition,  the  essence  of  which  is 
hate  and  malignity.  The  religion  taught  in  them  is  false 
and  is  embodied  in  false  theories  of  the  earth,  and  iden 
tified  with  false  science,  and  in  every  way  an  obstacle  to 
the  awakening  of  the  mind,  and  its  emancipation  from 
error,  and  opposed  to  the  enlargement  of  trade  and  the 
extension  of  fraternal  intercourse  among  mankind. 
Among  the  Chinese  there  is  no  creative  genius,  no  origin- 


96  TRADE     AND      LETTERS! 

ating  mind — no  invention.  They  arc  mere  imitators. 
Their  being  is  the  monotony  of  the  tread-mill.  There  is 
no  life,  no  expansion,  no  upward  tendency.  A  false  relig 
ion  mildews  their  manufacturing,  commerce,  and  letters. 
But  the  churches  of  New  York  are  dedicated  to  the  one 
living  and  true  God.  The  essence  of  the  religion  taught 
in  them,  is  peace  on  earth  and  good  will  to  men.  Expan 
sion,  benevolence,  piety :  these  are  its  attributes.  Its 
advance  is  marked  by  discoveries,  inventions,  and  the 
outgoings  of  trade.  It  fosters  science,  and  the  fine  and 
useful  arts.  The  influence  of  religion  on  mankind  is  itself 
a  theme  deserving  far  more  attention  than  it  has  received. 
The  influence  is  seen  in  the  deep  and  all  pervading  tra 
ditions  of  all  nations — the  strong  hold  it  has  on  their 
hopes  and  fears — and  in  the  many  colonies  that  have 
been  planted  from  religious  motives.  Its  sanctuaries  have 
become  depots  of  trade  as  well  as  the  radiating  points  of 
light.  And  not  a  few  articles  of  trade  have  become  such 
in  order  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  devotee.  Scarcely 
one  among  all  the  half  civilized  nations  of  the  ancient 
world  would  dare  offer  a  gift  to  their  gods  without  the 
frankincense  or  aromatic  perfumes  of  Arabia.  It  is  also 
well  known  that  modern  missions  have  been  important 
auxiliaries  to  the  extension  of  science  and  trade.  The 
most  important  element  in  modern  civilization  is  Chris 
tianity.  We  are  painfully  conscious  that  our  cities  are  not 


THEIK    CONNECTION    AND    INFLUENCE.         97 

the  homes  of  saints,  but  the  worst  form  of  true  religion  is 
immeasurably  better  than  the  best  form  of  a  radically 
false  one.  Sadly  imperfect  as  the  Christianity  of  the  com 
mercial  emporium  of  our  Republic  may  be,  it  is  immeas 
urably  superior  to  the  system  of  faith  and  morals  that 
prevails  in  the  Buddhist  emporium  on  the  other  side  of 
our  globe. 

It  is  true  that  natural  science  has  a  direct  and  powerful 
money  bearing  on  the  property  of  men,  and  that  moral 
science  has  an  equally  direct  and  powerful  bearing  on 
their  happiness.  Without  a  knowledge  of  the  natural 
capabilities  of  a  country,  and  of  their  relations  to  the 
comfort  and  welfare  of  man,  its  inhabitants  will  remain 
ignorant  and  weak.  And  without  letters,  or  a  written  lit 
erature,  no  nation  has  ever  made  great  progress  in  knowl 
edge  or  art.  It  is  the  light  of  science  that  teaches  us  how 
to  multiply  one  acre  so  as  to  make  four  of  it.  That  is,  so 
to  improve  its  cultivation  as  to  make  it  yield  as  much  as 
four  would  produce  without  such  improvements,  and  then 
to  make  its  yield  effective  in  like  proportion.  The  light 
of  experience  under  the  tutorship  of  science  makes  one 
ship  now  as  valuable  as  a  whole  fleet  was  a  few  centuries 
ago.  In  increasing  the  quantity  of  our  agricultural  and 
manufacturing  products,  the  light  of  experience  and 
science  also  improves  their  quality,  and  increases  their 

demand,  and  the   facilities   of  trade   for   supplying  that 
9 


98  TEADE     AND     LETTEES: 

demand.  It  is  by  improvements  in  agriculture  and  in  the 
art  of  navigation  that  countries  comparatively  sterile  and 
far  removed  from  markets  are  able  to  enter  into  successful 
competition  with  richer  soils  and  more  favored  localities. 
But  the  knowledge  of  these  improvements  is  not  born 
with  us,  nor  can  we  acquire  it  by  yawning,  nor  by  mere 
absorption  as  an  oyster  obtains  his  subsistence.  Effort  is 
the  price  that  must  be  paid  for  the  experience  and  science 
that  make  the  arts  of  peace  so  poweful.  Hence  we  want 
public  schools,  high  schools,  colleges,  lyceums,  galleries 
of  the  fine  arts,  scientific  lectures,  and  the  aid  of  the 
printing  press,  and  the  countenance  and  support  of  all 
classes  to  such  enterprises  as  foster  the  growth  of  knowl 
edge  and  elevate  public  sentiment.  Though  the  fine  arts 
and  literature  have  in  all  ages  been  found  in  close  connec 
tion  with  human  progress,  it  is  in  comparatively  modern 
times  only  that  institutions  have  been  established  with  an 
avowed  or  sole  reference  to  the  improvement  of  the  mer 
cantile  classes. 

FINALLY.  I  hope  I  have  succeeded  in  showing  that  the 
new  ideas  of  the  value  and  importance  of  commerce  and 
the  new  channels  of  trade  made  known  to  Europe  by  the 
discovery  of  America  and  of  the  passage  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  mark  the  line  of  the  chief  distinction 
between  the  manners  and  political  institutions  of  modern 


THEIK     CONNECTION     AND     INFLUENCE.          99 

and   ancient   times.      I  hope  enough   has  been   said  to 
show, 

I.  That  the  progress  of  a  nation  is  just  in  the  ratio  of 
its  skill  in  the  employment  of  capital  in  productive  indus 
try,  and  in  commercial  enterprises. 

II.  That  foreign  as  well  as  domestic  trade  sustained  by 
the  employment  and  distribution  of  wealth  in  productive 
industry   is   as   necessary   to   the   healthful  progress  of 
nations,  as  the  circulation  of  the   blood  and  the  inhaling 
of  fresh  air  is  to  the  health  of  the  body.     And, 

III.  That  such  a  progress    requires    the    harmonious 
working  of  capital,  and  skill  in  all  the  industrial,  useful, 
and  ornamental  arts  that  have  distinguished  the  greatest 
nations  of  past  ages. 

IV.  That  trade  and  intercourse  with  mankind  is  neces 
sary  to  the  development  of  the  individual  species,  and  of 
national  resources.     The  nations  of  the  West  have  been  a 
traveling,  trading,  noise-making,  fighting,  and  at  times  a 
blustering  family.     But  with  them  travels  the  power  of 
the  race.     The  Japanese,  Chinese,  and  Hindoos,  are  a  fair 
sample  of  what  nations  are,  even  with  a  high  home-made 
literature,  shut  out  from  intercourse  with  the  great  world. 
The  children  of  the  East,  according  to  their  tribes,  have 
vailed  their  women,  and  palissaded  themselves  with  castes, 
or  surrounded  themselves  with  walls  and  refused  to  trade 
with   the   rest   of  mankind.     And   what   is   the   result  ? 


100  TRADE    AND      LETTERS! 

Degeneracy  of  every  kind  covers  their  whole  escutcheon. 
As  goods  in  bales  unopened  to  the  sun  spoil ;  as  plants  in 
cellars  without  light  and  air  languish  ;  so  are  individuals 
and  nations  without  intercourse  with  their  fellow-men.  It 
is  a  knowledge  of  what  our  neighbor  has  done  or  can  do, 
that  teaches  us  what  we  can  do.  It  is  a  part  of  the  Di 
vine  allotment  that  men  should  divide  the  earth  among 
themselves,  and  jostle  and  elbow  one  another  through  it, 
in  order  to  keep  the  weeds  down,  and  the  wild  beasts  in 
subjection.  Commerce  is  the  salt  that  preserves  the 
ocean  of  life.  But  for  trade  and  the  literature  necessary 
to  carry  it  on,  one  half  of  the  globe  would  now  be  covered 
with  jungle,  chapparel,  and  cactuses,  and  the  other  half 
inhabited  by  such  smoke-dried  specimens  of  humanity  as 
the  Camanches  and  our  brethren  of  the  "  Flowery  King 
dom." 

As  the  European  and  civilized  American  nations  re 
quire  the  commodities  of  the  East,  as  the  nations  that  are 
the  carriers  of  these  commodities  command  the  most  pow 
erful  resources  of  wealth  and  influence,  so  are  we  literally 
and  actually,  geographically  and  commercially,  in  the 
PATHWAY  OF  EMPIRE.  The  wealth  of  the  world,  and  the 
hopes  of  future  generations  are  before  us.  In  doing  our 
duty  is  our  glory.  And  as  with  us  rests  especially  the 
privilege  of  "rounding  chaos  into  form,"  on  this  vast  coast, 
so  the  responsibility  devolving  upon  us  as  patriots  and 


THEIR     CONNECTION     AXD     INFLUENCE.       101 

philanthropists  is  of  fearful  magnitude.  This  must  be  felt 
by  every  one  who  may  consider  the  influence  of  this  coast 
fifty  years  hence.  As  the  pioneer  population  of  the  older 
States  are  here  arrested  by  a  flood  of  waters  they  can  nei 
ther  swim  nor  bridge,  so  will  they  beat  back  and  fill  up 
the  mountains  and  the  valleys  of  this  continent  until  they 
shall  beam  with  life  and  riches  subservient  to  human  com 
fort  and  elegance,  as  a  beehive  on  the  western  prairies 
does  with  honey-making  citizens.  These  radiant  shores 
are  destined  to  reflect  a  tremendous  influence  upon  the 
great  valley  of  the  Mississippi  by  way  of  the  Cordilleras 
and  Rocky  Mountains,  and  thence  to  the  St.  Lawrence 
and  to  Europe.  I  speak  not  now  of  the  influence  of  Cali 
fornia  upon  the  ship-building  and  the  looms  of  the  Atlan 
tic  States,  nor  of  her  gold  in  Wall-street,  Lombard-street, 
and  the  Bourse.  Nor  do  I  speak  altogether  of  reflective 
influences.  For  the  day  will  come,  sure  as  the  ordinances 
of  heaven,  when  our  Pacific  States  shall  rival  the  Atlantic. 
We  look  out  upon  the  richest  portions  of  the  earth,  and 
upon  the  broadest  ocean  of  our  planet.  The  commerce  of 
the  East,  the  desire  of  all  great  nations,  on  its  way  to  Eu 
rope,  is  coming  to  us.  Nor  is  there  a  sheet  now  catching 
the  wide  ocean  breeze,  that  does  not  carry  the  influence 
of  California  in  its  folds.  Nor  is  there  an  invoice  regis 
tered,  or  a  bill  of  exchange  drawn,  that  is  not  affected  by 

the  auriferous  dust  under  our  feet.     It  is  then  for  the  Eu- 

9* 


102  TKADE    AND     LETTERS: 

REKA  State,  by  her  popular  intelligence  and  public  moral 
ity,  and  geographical  and  commercial  position  and  rela 
tions,  to  mold  the  political  and  moral  future  of  the  entire 
Pacific  world,  from  Panama  to  Cape  Horn  and  Behring's 
Straits,  and  from  the  icy  ocean  to  Jerusalem.  The 
race  of  people  now  here,  their  antecedents,  institutions, 
language,  religion,  and  present  position,  and  acknowl 
edged  aspirations,  clearly  foretell  that  in  sober  verity,  their 
"  manifest  destiny"  is  to  advance.  The  continent,  the 
boundless  continent,  is  theirs.  Their  order  of  mind,  as  well 
as  their  form  of  civilization,  renders  them  the  most  power 
ful  and  fit  people  on  earth  to  impress  their  character  upon 
their  neighbors.  The  English  language  is  gradually,  but 
certainly  making  itself  the  channel  of  communication  in 
every  sea-port,  and  along  every  coast  of  the  world.  No 
other  language  is  spreading  like  it.  It  is  in  this  tongue 
LIGHT  from  this  coast  will,  at  no  very  distant  day,  pencil 
into  living  pictures  of  beauty  the  thousand  islands  that  re 
pose  on  this  vast  ocean,  and  make  luminious  the  mount 
ains  and  harbors  of  Japan  and  China,  and  travel  up  the 
Amoor,  and  Hoogley,  and  the  Ganges,  to  meet  its  kindred 
rays  breaking  eastward  from  Europe;  and  mingling  with 
the  light  of  Trade  and  Letters,  converging  on  the  East, 
and  the  mission  posts  of  Christianity,  will  kindle  into  a 
constellation  that  shall  proclaim  the  cross  triumphant  over 
the  crescent  and  every  other  opposing  power.  Is  it  not 


THEIJR     CONNECTION     AND      INFLUENCE.       103 

written  in  the  books  of  Providence,  that,  if  as  patriots 
philanthropists,  and  Christians,  you  would  regenerate  the 
great  eastern  world  with  its  millions  of  human  beings,  you 
must  first  fill  this  Pacific  coast  with  an  enlightened,  edu 
cated,  and  pious  population  ?  The  great  world  fact  of  the 
passing  year  is  the  wedding  of  the  two  great  oceans  of  our 
globe.  Never  before  on  this  planet  was  there  ever  cele 
brated  so  sublime  a  bridal.  The  nuptial  ring  that  binds 
the  rough  old  Atlantic  to  the  fair  Pacific  is  of  wrought 
iron — significant  of  the  indissoluble  bonds  that  now  bind 
two  willing  hemispheres.  The  dowry  is  to  all  nations, 
and  consists  of  the  millions  of  treasure,  and  of  the  prec 
ious  things  of  the  earth,  that  are  to  flow  through  this 
union  henceforth  in  unremitting  streams  to  and  fro  over 
the  globe. 

Another  wedding,  and  in  high  life,  is  soon  to  take 
place.  The  bands  are  already  published.  Lord  Shanghai 
is  soon  to  lead  to  the  altar  the  blooming  daughter  of 
the  Pacific.  The  enchasings  of  the  wedding  ring  now 
making,  are  to  be  surpassingly  rich,  and  significant  of  the 
glowing  ardor  of  the  young  couple.  And  I  have  only  to 
wish  that  Miss  California's  rich  old  uncle  would  hasten 
the  wedding,  and  that  we  may  all  be  there.  Meanwhile 
it  is  our  privilege  to  hear  the  epithalamium  in  praise  of 
the  bride  and  bridegroom  from  the  poet  laureate.* 

*  Poem  followed  by  Hon.  Frank  Soule,  editor  of  the  Chronicle. 


LECTURE     III. 


III. 


SOME   HINTS  ON  THE   MORAL  INFLUENCE   OF    THE 
COMMERCIAL  SPIRIT  OF  THE  AGE.* 

"Assyria,  Greece,  Rome,  Carthage,  what  are  they?" 

There  is  the  moral  of  all  human  tales  ; 
'  Tie  but  the  same  rehearsal  of  the  past ! 
First  freedom  and  then  glory — when  that  fails, 
Wealth,  vice,  corruption — barbarism  at  last 

CHILDE  HABOLD. 

Then  westward  ho !  in  legions,  boys — 

Fair  Freedom' s  star 
Points  to  her  sunset  regions,  boys. 

No  clime  so  bright  and  beautiful 

As  that  where  sets  the  sun ; 
No  land  so  fertile,  fair,  and  free, 

As  that  of  WASHINGTON. 

MOBBIS. 

You  are  aware  that  the  sages  of  the  great  cities  and 
empires  of  the  old  world,  in  the  fullness  of  their  wisdom 
and  the  brilliancy  of  their  imagination,  could  not  see  be 
yond  the  pillars  of  Hercules.  They  sailed  across  the  Styx 
long  before  the  compass  enabled  Columbus  to  unfurl 

"  An  eastern  banner  o'er  the  western  world, 
And  teach  mankind  where  future  empires  lay, 
In  these  fair  confines  of  descending  day."f 

*  Delivered  at  the  second  Anniversary  of  the  Mercantile  Library 
Association,  of  San  Francisco,  January  25,  1855.  f  Barlow. 


108  MORAL      INFLUENCE      OF 

Columbia's  early  bard  was  more  prophet  than  poet,  in 
writing  of  empires  in  the  future  of  these  climes  of  "  de 
scending  day."  And  "  westering  still,"  says  another  poet 
of  a  later  day ;  but  I  beg  pardon  for  quoting  so  much 
poetry,  I  will  leave  that  to  the  poet  of  the  evening,  my 
honorable  friend  here  on  my  left.*  Well,  prose  or  poetry, 
"  westering  still"  is  the  star  that  leads 

"  The  new  world  in  its  train," 

and  westward  will  the  stream  of  humanity,  in  its  best 
forms,  continue  to  flow,  and  it  may  be,  sometimes,  with 
the  gush  of  a  cataract,  until  it  shall  run  eastward  and  the 
circle  be  complete. 

As  citizens  of  public  spirit,  you  desire  to  see  the 
physical  resources  and  wealth  of  the  country  developed, 
and  for  this  purpose  you  are  constantly  urging  the  erec 
tion  of  railroads  and  telegraph  lines.  You  are  striving  to 
facilitate  emigration  by  having  a  road  across  the  mount 
ains,  and  the  great  plains  opened  and  safe  for  the  wagon 
and  children  of  the  hardy  pioneer.  These,  and  a  thousand 
other  appliances  for  bringing  out  the  resources  of  the 
country  are  all  right ;  they  are  to  be  commended.  But  it 
is  my  purpose,  now,  to  look  in  a  brief  and  simple  manner 

at  the  MORAL  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  COMMERCIAL  6PIRIT  OF 
OUR  AGE. 

*  Hon.  F.  S.  Soule. 


THE     COMMEECIAL     SPIKIT.  109 

The  subject  at  once  commends  itself  to  you,  both  as  a 
subject  of  history  and  of  experience.  It  is  too  great, 
however,  for  me  to  attempt  any  thing  more  than  to  sug 
gest  hints,  and  of  them  only  such  as  relate  to  national 
&  j  j 

experience.  Every  one  of  you  must  feel  that  our  commer 
cial  relations  are  interwoven  with  the  very  framework  of 
our  national  existence. 

The  history  of  free  cities,  and  of  the  commerce  of 
nations,  is  now  receiving  more  attention  than  at  any 
former  period,  but  our  language  is  still  shamefully 
poor  in  its  contributions  to  this  subject.  The  history 
of  commerce  is  a  most  interesting  one,  because  of  its  great 
antiquity,  for  as  soon  as  men  learned  the  difference 
between  meum  and  tuum,  which  was  doubtless  very  near 
the  beginning  of  their  existence,  they  began  to  bully, 
barter,  swap,  and  exchange,  meum  for  tuum,  with  the 
hope  of  obtaining  both.  The  history  of  human  migra 
tions,  which  is  essentially  connected  with  the  commerce 
of  nations,  is  also  interesting  to  every  one  that  studies  the 
progress  and  destiny  of  mankind.  The  migrations  and 
traffic  of  nations  are  developments  of  national  mind.  It 
is  as  the  national  mind  is  awakened  and  enlightened  and 
directed  toward  utility,  that  the  schemes  of  commerce 
are  apprehended;  in  the  mind  of  a  nation  are  all  the 
springs  of  its  activity ;  as  we  trace,  therefore,  the  outgoings 

of  commerce,   we  see  the  progress  of  mind.     The  pro- 
10 


110  MORAL     INFLUENCE     OF 

gressive  power  of  a  nation  is  always  in  proportion  to  its 
progressiveness  of  mind  ;  the  extension  of  a  nation's  com 
merce  is,  therefore,  evidence  of  its  growth,  both  in  intelli 
gence  and  in  the  development  of  its  resources.  We  must 
guard  against  the  idea,  however,  that  our  commercial 
greatness  can  be  segregated  from  our  mechanical  skill  or 
agricultural  power.  This  can  not  be  done.  Commerce 
is  nothing  without  the  products  of  the  farm,  and  the  man 
ufactory.  Commerce  and  agriculture  are  joined  together 
by  the  Creator  through  the  mechanic.  Not  a  single  ves 
sel  can  go  to  sea  without  the  aid  of  the  stalwart  "  tiller  of 
the  ground,"  and  the  handicraft  of  the  knight  of  tools. 
The  oaks,  and  pines,  and  hemp,  without  which  the  car 
penter  can  not  build  the  ship,  and  the  products  which 
make  the  ship's  cargo,  are  all  to  come  from  the  farmer's 
soil. 

"  Our  commerce  and  agriculture,  like  the  twins  of  Hip 
pocrates,  must  flourish  or  must  die  together  ;  one  can  not 
exist  and  prosper  without  the  other.  The  lords  of  the 
sea  will  be  strongest  when  the  lords  of  the  soil  are  most 
honored." 

In  modern  times  no  nation  can  be  truly  great  without  a 
powerfully  awakened  mind  and  opportunities  for  the 
development  of  its  national  resources ;  millions  of  sinews, 
muscles,  bones,  and  heads ;  thousands  of  bays,  harbors, 
rivers,  and  lakes ;  millions  of  millions  of  treasure  in  coal 


THE     COMMERCIAL     SPIRIT.  Ill 

and  lead,  and  in  the  precious  metals ;  the  savannas  and 
the  sierras ;  the  forests  and  all  the  wealth  that  lies  unde 
veloped  in  the  soils  and  streams  of  a  continent,  are  noth 
ing  without  mind  to  bring  it  out  and  to  place  it  before 
mankind,  so  as  to  increase  the  influence  of  the  nation. 
The  produce  of  the  soil,  the  products  of  the  mills,  and 
the  wares  of  the  shop,  and  the  riches  of  the  mines  are 
exponents  of  the  activity  and  skill  of  the  national  mind. 
As  it  was  the  Creator's  design  for  man  to  labor,  to  till  the 
earth  and  subdue  it,  and  have  dominion  over  it,  so  it  was, 
doubtless  the  Divine  intention  that  men  should  trade  one 
with  another,  and  this  divine  beneficent  intention  is  the 
MAGNA  CHARTA  of  human  progress ;  and  every  contribu 
tion  obtained  from  air  and  water,  from  the  ocean  and  the 
clouds,  from  chemistry  and  geology,  to  the  advancement 
of  human  science  and  art,  is  a  fulfillment  of  the  Divine 
mind  in  giving  man  dominion  over  the  earth.  The  com 
merce  of  nations  is  evidently,  then,  agreeable  to  the  Great 
Father  of  all;  it  is  one  of  Heaven's  approved  agencies 
for  overcoming  the  barbarism  of  the  savage,  and  for 
elevating  the  moral  feelings  of  the  civilized.  It  is  by  dif 
fusion  and  reciprocation  that  the  necessities  of  our  race 
are  to  be  supplied.  The  Creator  has  wrought  into  the 
soil  of  the  globe  a  capacity  to  feed  all  its  tenantry ;  the 
overplus  of  one  portion  in  any  article  of  consumption  is 
evidently  intended  for  the  deficiency  of  another  portion, 


112  MOKAL     INFLUENCE     OF 

and  the  transfer  of  such  commodities  is  left  to  the  indus 
try  and  intelligence  of  the  human  family.  It  is  thus  that 
the  Creator  has  given  to  every  unit  of  the  human  family 
a  specific  part  to  do  for  the  well-being  of  himself,  and 
through  his  individual  well-being  to  promote  the  well- 
being  of  the  whole  race.  The  object  of  commerce  is  not 
to  enable  one  man  to  live  from  the  misfortunes  of  another ; 
not  to  enable  one  man  by  his  wits  to  overreach  another, 
and  live  on  his  brother's  losses.  The  legitimate  object  of 
commerce  is  to  meet  the  necessities  of  one  part  of  man 
kind,  by  supplying  them  with  the  over  supplies  of  another 
part.  If  there  are  wrongs  perpetrated,  and  evils  connect 
ed  with  the  extension  of  commerce,  they  are  chargeable 
to  its  abuse,  and  not  to  its  legitimate  fruits ;  its  blessings 
far  transcend  its  evils ;  they  are  as  the  stars  of  the  firma 
ment,  while  its  evils  are  but  fire-flies  in  the  swamps,  or 
fire-damps  in  the  mines.  It  is  not  the  fault  of  commerce 
that  some  are  left  in  want,  and  some  are  defrauded  in 
trade;  this  is  owing  to  the  clogs  that  human  depravity 
lias  fastened  to  its  wheels.  "  It  is  man's  inhumanity  to 
man,"  and  not  any  of  the  Creator's  laws,  "  that  has  made 
countless  thousands  mourn." 

The  laws  of  commerce  are  good.  It  is  only  when  the 
moral  sense  is  blunted,  that  the  friction  of  its  vast 
machinery  is  dangerous.  The  real  basis  then  of  the  com 
merce  of  nations  may  be,  as  it  has  well  been  styled,  the 


THE     COMMERCIAL     S  PI  KIT.  113 

mutuality  of  self-interest*  By  this  is  not  meant  selfish 
ness.  For  the  moral  evil  of  self-interest  is  neutralized  in 
a  pure  commerce  by  its  mutuality,  and  "every  man 
engaged  in  commerce,  whether  he  knows  it  or  not,  con 
sents  to  this  mutuality  of  self-interest ;"  that  is,  while  he 
honestly  watches  over  his  own  interests,  he  allows  and 
expects  his  neighbor  to  do  the  same  thing,  and  so  long  as 
honorable  principles  govern  men's  actions,  the  self-interest 
of  trade  is  kept  from  degenerating  into  selfishness.  The 
importance  of  rightly  understanding  this  point  may  be 
illustrated  by  a  comparison  suggested  by  another,  and 
which  he  uses  on  a  kindred  subject :  suppose,  which  is 
necessary  to  the  very  existence  of  commerce,  that  there  is 
a  common  stock  for  human  subsistence  and  well-being, 
and  that  this  common  stock  is  represented  by  a  reservoir, 
which  contains  the  water  that  is  to  refresh  and  nourish 
the  vast  population  of  the  city,  and  that  each  individual 
in  the  city  needing  supplies  from  the  reservoir  is  equally 
interested  in  maintaining  its  embankments  in  strength, 
and  its  waters  healthful.  Now,  it  is  evident,  that  the 
well-being  of  the  aggregate  of  the  city's  population  is 
dependent  on  the  faithfulness  of  each  individual  to  the 
performance  of  his  individual  duty,  in  keeping  up  the 
embankments,  and  in  watching  over  the  purity  of  its 
waters.  Now  suppose  that  this  reservoir  represents  the 

*  By  Rev.  Dr.  Fisk  of  England.     See  his  lecture. 
10* 


114  MORAL     INFLUENCE     OF 

common  stock  of  America  and  of  all  the  nations  with 
which  she  trades ;  and  again,  that  the  United  States  and 
each  nation  she  trades  with  has  its  own  reservoir,  and 
that  each  individual  of  each  nation  is  intrusted  with 
a  specific  duty,  in  reference  to  the  keeping  up  of  the 
embankments,  and  the  preservation  of  the  purity  of  the 
water,  and  you  can  not  fail  to  see  how  each  individual  in 
the  United  States,  and  in  every  nation  we  trade  with,  is 
interested  in  the  individual  honesty  and  skill  of  every 
farmer,  artisan,  banker,  tradesman,  and  sailor,  engaged  in 
all  these  nations. 

And  what  but  intelligence  can  keep  up  the  embank 
ments  and  keep  the  water  pure  ?  I  am  sure  the  history 
of  mankind  will  show  that  those  nations  that  are  the  most 
pure  in  their  principles,  are  the  greatest  in  their  power 
and  glory.  Commercial  extension  is  in  proportion  to  the 
prevalence  of  Christian  intelligence  and  integrity.  And 
additional  importance  is  affixed  to  this  part  of  our  subject 
when  we  consider  that  the  age  of  barter  in  shells,  hides, 
animals,  stone,  and  such-like  things,  has  given  place  to  an 
age  remarkable  for  a  circulating  medium,  called  money, 
consisting  of  precious  metals,  and  that,  on  this  basis, 
credit  has  become  as  available  as  money.  On  this  point,  I 
will  not  say  much,  for  it  is  in  the  line  of  my  friend  of  the 
"Flush  Times  of  Alabama,"  who  is  also  to  address  you.* 
*  J.  G.  Baldwin,  Esq. 


THE     COMMERCIAL     SPIKIT.  115 

The  abuses  of  credit  have  been,  and  may  be  great,  but  the 
exigences  of  commerce  require  it.  Public  credit  is,  and 
must  be  coined  and  stamped  with  the  die  of  public  appro 
bation,  in  such  a  form  as  to  make  capital  as  available  as 
the  actual  presence  in  force  of  the  precious  metals.  The 
commerce  of  nations  can  not  now  be  carried  on  without 
express-offices  and  bills  of  exchange ;  but  what  is  com 
mercial  credit  without  moral  worth  ?  It  is  by  confidence 
in  the  honesty  of  those  engaged  in  banks  and  trade,  that 
capital  becomes  as  available  as  the  precious  metals  them 
selves.  But  what  stability  can  there  be  in  such  moment 
ous  transactions — transactions  that  stretch  round  the 
circumference  of  our  globe,  and  require,  even  with  the 
facilities  of  travel  that  we  now  have,  almost  a  year  to  bring 
a  bill  of  exchange  home,  without  abiding  moral  principles  ? 
And  I  am  happy  to  say,  and  from  some  little  personal  ex 
perience  in  different  quarters  of  the  globe,  that  the  mer 
cantile  honesty  of  Great  Britain,  the  reliability  of  her  mer 
chants,  is  one  of  the  mightiest  bands  of  her  strength. 
The  continentals  may  affect  to  despise  her  as  a  "  nation  of 
shopkeepers,"  and  attempt  to  rival  her  in  arms  and  in 
arts,  but  they  are  compelled  both  to  love  and  fear  her  for 
her  commercial  integrity.  I  am  not  speaking  of  the 
haughty  aristocracy,  nor  of  the  government  of  Great  Brit 
ain,  nor  of  her  huge,  imperial  monopolies,  but  of  her  pri 
vate  bankers,  manufacturers,  and  merchants.  It  is  to 


116  MORAL      INFLUENCE      O  F 

their  credit  more  than  to  lier  prowess  in  arms,  great  as  it 
is,  or  to  the  gold  in  the  vaults  of  her  bank,  that  she  owes 
her  greatness ;  and  the  way  for  us  to  extend  our  commer 
cial  power,  is  to  make  our  flag  the  herald  ensign  of  na 
tional  integrity.  When  heathen  nations  learn  that  the 
word  of  an  American  skipper  is  equal  to  an  oath,  and  the 
promise  of  our  merchantmen  sacred  as  a  covenant,  then 
will  they  open  their  hearts  and  their  treasures  to  us.  We 
must  gain  their  confidence  by  mildness,  forbearance,  firm 
ness  and  truth.  The  interflexions  of  commercial  life  are 
so  numerous  and  so  vast,  that,  like  the  nervous  system  of 
the  human  body,  you  can  not  touch  one  nerve  without 
having  a  response  from  all.  The  individual  and  aggre 
gate  well-doing  of  all  commercial  nations  is,  therefore,  the 
necessary  basis  of  their  individual  and  aggregate  well- 
being.  The  dishonesty  of  the  artisan  in  making  a  clock, 
or  of  the  weaver  in  making  a  print,  of  the  weigher  or 
measurer,  or  of  the  clerk,  shipper,  consignee,  vendor,  or 
banker,  affects  the  whole  transaction  from  the  inception  of 
the  design  of  the  fabric  to  its  consumption,  and  is  reflected 
back  in  the  product  of  the  consumer,  by  which  the  ar 
ticle  in  question  was  purchased ;  and  there  is  as  much 
dishonesty  in  the  consumer,  who  wishes  to  purchase  an 
article  below  its  value,  as  there  is  in  a  vendor  who  sells  it 
for  more  than  its  worth ;  and  the  dishonesty  of  the  pur 
chaser  who  wishes  to  get  an  article  for  less  than  it  can  be 


THE     COMMERCIAL     SPIRIT.  .117 

honestly  afforded  at,  leads  the  artisan  to  make  a  cheap  ar 
ticle  that  will  resemble  the  high-priced  one,  and  to  sell 
the  inferior  article  as  the  high-priced  one  to  such  custom 
ers  as  are  not  familiar  with  the  qualities  and  value  of  such 
things.  It  is  evident  that  the  moral  spirit  of  commerce  is 
a  subject  that  interests,  not  only  the  CONSCIENCE  and  the 
soul,  both  here  and  hereafter,  but  is  also  deeply  connected 
with  the  progress  and  success  of  commerce  itself ;  it  is  not 
merely  a  moral  habitude  that  gives  intensity  and  coloring 
to  an  existence  in  a  state  of  endless  retribution,  but  it  is 
necessarily  interwoven  with  success  in  business,  and  still 
more  with  the  enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of  success  in  busi 
ness,  even  in  this  life. 

But  how  shall  I  draw  a  picture  of  the  commercial  spirit 
of  our  age  ?  Win  ther  can  we  fly  to  escape  from  i  ts  presence  ? 

The  "  snowy  cones"  and  green  woods  of  Oregon,  the 
jungles  of  India,  the  canals  of  China,  the  sands  of  Coro- 
mandel,  the  gulches  of  the  Sierra,  and  the  mountains  of 
Africa,  are  witnesses  of  its  adventures,  failures,  and  suc 
cesses.  I  know  not  that  there  is  a  sea  on  which  our  ships 
do  not  float,  nor  a  wind  that  does  not  unfurl  our  flag,  nor 
a  haven,  upon  earth,  into  which  our  merchants  do  not 
send  their  vessels,  nor  a  nation  on  the  globe  with  which 
we  do  not  transact  business.  The  goings  forth  of  our 
commerce  have  covered  the  Atlantic  with  our  sails,  and 
while  the  Great  Powers  of  Europe  are  measuring  their 


118  MO  HAL     INFLUENCE      OF 

strength  for  mutual  destruction,  to  gain  an  ascendency 
over  the  little  bright  blue  Mediterranean  sea,  it  is  ours  to 
make  the  vast  Pacific  an  American  "  lake." 

The  Westminster  JReview  rather  piquantly  admits,  that 
"  cousin  Jonathan  does  a  vast  stroke  of  actual  work  in  the 
practical  way  ;  preparing  the  wilderness  for  the  use  of 
man ;  transforming  things  unowned  into  property,  and 
European  pauperism  into  American  prosperity."  "  A  very 
respectable,  useful,  and  valuable  relative,  indeed,"  of  his 
English  uncle.  "  Altogether  modern,  and  with  a  history 
of  only  two  short  chapters — Puritanism  and  Revolution" — 
we  are  nevertheless  "  a  remarkable  family  of  cousins — of 
singular,  and  perhaps,  the  most  expanding,  mobile,  multi 
plying,  '  go-a-head'  human  creatures  that  ever  '  exploited' 
this  terrestrial  globe.  *  *  *  Hardly  more  settled 
than  the  halt  of  the  exploring  traveler  whose  night's  rest 
is  hurried  and  feverish  with  onward  thoughts  for  to-mor 
row  ;  our  keen  faculties  and  energies  are  all  set  on  '  prog 
ress' — working  for  times  that  are  not,  but  will  be — for  a 
Future  that  is  to  '  beat  all  creation.'  " 

And  even  the  London  Daily  News  finds  time  amid 
its  pictures  to  say,  "To  watch  the  spirit  of  American 
commerce  is  to  witness  some  of  the  finest  romance  of  our 
times."  The  equator  and  the  poles,  the  mountain  passes 
and  desert  oases,  the  forest,  lake,  and  waterfall,  the  sunny 
South  and  Arctic  snows  are  as  familiar  to  our  traders  and 


THE     COMMERCIAL     SPIRIT.  119 

explorers  as  of  any  other  nation.  In  traffic  ours  are  the 
pearls  of  the  South,  "  with  birds  of  bright  plumage,"  the 
gums  and  the  sweets,  and  the  spices  and  tea,  of  the 
East,  and  the  gold,  and  silver,  and  gems  of  the  New 
World.  Our  Salem  rivals  the  fame  of  the  Ilanse-Towns, 
and  of  old  Venice,  the  bridegroom  of  the  sea,  that 
has  been  dead  and  hearsed  many  a  year.  But  the 
spirits  of  the  Adriatic  Queen  have  already  witnessed 
the  nuptials  of  the  beautiful  Pacific  with  her  bride 
groom  of  the  Golden  Gale.  And  brilliant  is  the  wedding, 
and  numerous  as  the  stars  will  be  the  offspring,  when 
Santa  Glaus  shall  come  sailing  in  steam  vessels,  and  riding 
on  iron  horses  to  pour  the  bonbons  of  both  the  East  and 
West  into  her  lap  on  Christmas  Eve. 

In  sober  reality  our  merchant  princes  are  the  aristoc 
racy  of  Neptune ;  the  lords  of  the  sea.  Their  scepter  is 
the  trident  of  the  floods,  and  the  ocean's  waves  are  their 
baronial  acres. 

In  our  harbors  we  see  ships  of  the  most  distant  nations 
riding  safely.  Pactolian  streams  literally  flow  into  our 
lap ;  and  we  are  in  a  fair  way  to  gain  the  lion's  share  of 
the  wealth  of  the  world.  Many  of  our  ships  cany  the 
treasures  of  kings,  or  sufficient  wealth  to  have  founded  an 
empire,  or  have  created  a  new  dynasty.  Every  day  wit 
nesses  something  contributive  to  our  resources  and  mer 
cantile  power.  And  when  we  consider  the  shipping  con- 


120  MORAL     INFLUENCE     OF 

nected  with  the  outlet  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  the  Hudson,  the 
Chesapeake,  the  Mississippi  and  San  Francisco,  and  antici 
pate  the  day  when  our  valleys  and  mountains,  from  the 
Northern  Lakes  and  the  Eastern  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific, 
shall  be  reticulated  by  railroads,  and  filled  with  prosper 
ous  villages  and  cities,  and  farms  and  manufactories,  and 
bound  into  one  web  of  affection,  and  reciprocal  advantage, 
and  of  Christian  principle,  we  can  not  refrain  from  utter 
ing  the  great  Statesman's  prayer :  THAT  WE  MAY  EVER  BE 

ONE  PEOPLE,  WITH  ONE  CONSTITUTION  AND  ONE  DESTINY. 

What,  but  the  urgencies  of  the  commercial  spirit  could 
have  enacted  the  neutrality  laws  now  existing  between  us 
and  the  belligerent  powers  of  Europe  ?  The  treaties  now 
between  the  United  States  and  Russia,  and  the  other  great 
nations,  are  an  acknowledgment  of  the  power  of  our  com 
merce.  The  magnitude  of  our  commercial  interests,  I  am 
not  able  to  set  before  you  in  detail.  The  reports  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  of  the  Census  Bureau  are  in 
your  hands ;  our  tonnage  and  marine  transactions  are 
equal  to  the  greatest,  and  superior  to  that  of  any  other 
nation,  with,  perhaps,  one  exception.  The  mightiness  of 
our  commercial  interests,  the  magnitude  and  extent  of  our 
mercantile  operations  far  surpass  the  expectations  of  our 
forefathers,  and  just  in  the  proportion  of  their  greatness,  is 
there  danger  in  them  involving  our  interests.  But  vast  as 
are  our  commercial  transactions,  the  spirit  that  is  in  them, 


THE     COMMEECIAL     SPIBIT.  121 

is  still  progressive  and  aggressive.  You  know  that  the 
great  weight  of  a  body  once  in  motion  on  an  inclined 
plane  increases  its  velocity,  and  that  its  progress  is  accel 
erated  with  every  revolution  of  the  wheel.  In  proportion, 
then,  to  the  magnitude  of  the  commerce  of  our  nation,  and 
the  number  and  power  of  the  various  facilities  by  which  it 
can  be  increased,  will  be  the  rapidity  and  force  of  the 
progress  which  it  makes.  The  spirit  that  broods  over  the 
workshop,  the  plow,  the  loom,  the  ledger,  and  the  bank, 
cry  out  for  progress  ;  there  is  a  cry  for  the  extension  of 
the  area  of  trade,  whether  there  is  for  the  widening  of 
"  the  area  of  freedom"  or  not.  In  every  mail  that  brings 
the  news  that  some  improvement  has  been  made  in 
ship-building,  in  agriculture,  in  railroads,  telegraphs,  and 
steamships,  or  that  some  new  port  is  open  to  trade,  some 
new  mine  discovered,  or  some  invention  made,  by  which 
elements  and  things  already  known  can  be  turned  to  ac 
count;  in  every  breeze, that  fills  the  sails  of  the  clipper, 
and  in  the  lashing  of  the  restless  waves  of  the  great  ocean 
at  our  gate,  there  is  a  loud  voice  calling  for  progress,  say 
ing  to  us,  from  the  nations  beyond,  "  Come  over  and  help 
us" — and  we  are  going;  we  have  already  gone.  Loo 
Choo  and  Niphon  bay  have  saluted  American  keels,  and 
the  waters  of  Jeddo  itself  have  fondly  embraced  "  the  Lady 
Pierce."*  And  one  of  the  necessary  results  of  this  vast 

0  American  ship,  Captain  Burrows. 
11 


122  MORAL     INFLUENCE     OF 

increase  of  mercantile  pursuits  is  A  POWERFUL  AWAKENING 

OF  THE  HUMAN  MIND. 

Every  improvement  in  manufacturing,  or  discovery  in 
agricultural  chemistry,  and  every  new  channel  that  is 
opened  up  for  trade,  is  a  stimulus  to  human  activity. 
The  whistle  of  the  steam-car,  and  the  click  of  the  tele 
graphic  key  have  not  only  awakened  old  Rip  Van  Winkle 
from  his  sleep  of  ages,  but  have  created  in  his  history  an 
era  of  new  and  terrible  thinking,  where  there  was  scarcely 
a  thought  before.  The  old  order  of  society  is  disintegrat 
ing  everywhere  ;  everywhere  cracking  and  crumbling  to 
pieces.  The  vast  armies  of  Europe  are  but  police  forces 
to  preserve  order  among  those  very  refined  and  well  be 
haved  people  called  kings  and  emperors,  and  their  fami 
lies.  The  current  of  men's  thoughts  is  quickened ;  the 
old  tread-mill  round  of  business  is  forsaken ;  the  circle  of 
knowledge  is  enlarged ;  the  field  of  vision  extended,  and 
the  mind  awakened  to  the  idea,  to  the  possibility,  to  the 
actual  effort  of  achievement ;  and  the  world  has  yet  to 
see  what  the  product  will  be  on  these  glorious  shores  of 
the  Pacific,  of  Anglo-Saxon  blood  warming  and  multiply 
ing  in  an  Asiatic  climate.  The  poetry,  the  dreaming  en 
thusiasm  of  the  East,  is  here  in  living  contact  with  the 
eternal  activity  and  courage  of  the  descendants  of  the  fol 
lowers  of  the  Odin  religion,  converted  to  Christianity. 
Our  blood  through  Cromwell  and  Luther  runs  up  to  the 


THE     COMMERCIAL     SPIRIT.  123 

aspirants  for  Valhal.     The  Anglo-Saxon  is  here  for  the 
first  time  since  the  primeval  emigrations  from  Asia  west 
ward,  on  a  soil  and  under  such  stars  and  sunshine,  and  in 
the  face  of  such  hills,  and  mountains,  and  oceans,  as  havo 
heretofore  been  identified  with  the  developments  of  Orien 
tal  mind.     Who  can  tell  what  will  be  the  progeny  of  the 
blood  of  the  heroes  of  Western  Europe,  flowing  in  the 
veins  of  freemen,  under  the  mighty  stimulus  of  repub 
lican   institutions,   and   warmed    by    a   Syrian   sun,   and 
fanned  with  breezes  like  those  of  the  sacred  mountains  ? 
The  generations  to  grow  up   here  under  the  ministry  of 
life  and  joy  from  the  ocean   air  and  mountain  skies,  and 
watched  over  by  such  a  galaxy  of  stars,  and  playing  by 
springs  like  those  of  Siloa  and  Jordan,  and  wandering  in 
valleys  like  those  of  Sharon  and  Esdraelon,  and  gazing  on 
mountains  like  Lebanon  and  Carmel,  must  be  generations 
of  deep  and  pious  thinking,  and  high  and  noble  daring ; 
and  if  I  could  say  it  without  interrupting  my  thread  of 
discourse,  I  would  say  positively,  that  there  is  no  climate 
in  Italy,  or  on  the  Mediterranean,   equal  to  that  of  this 
State. 

ANOTHER  RESULT  OF  THE  EXPANSION  OF  COMMERCE  is  A 
LIBERALIZING  OF  OUR  VIEWS. — Just  in  the  proportion  that 
we  are  well  acquainted  with  other  nations,  will  our  preju 
dices  and  dogged  notions  be  removed.  "  Every  body  and 
his  wife"  now  travels  and  trades,  and  in  the  hard  jostlings 


124  MORAL     INFLUENCE     OF 

of  the  dusty  thoroughfare  many  of  the  sharp  corners  of 
humanity  are  rubbed  off.  The  inhabitants  of  such  coun 
tries,  as  of  China  and  Japan,  that  are  the  most  closely 
shut  up  against  intercourse  with  other  countries,  are  the 
most  bigoted  and  narrow-minded,  and  filled  with  the  idea 
of  their  superiority  to  other  nations.  But  as  "the 
John's"  and  "John  Bulls"  and  "  Jonathan's"  and  the  R  F's 
of  the  "  Old  Dominion"  travel  abroad,  and  see  the  world, 
they  become  more  and  more  tolerant  and  kindly  disposed, 
and  at  last  begin  to  feel  that  there  may  be,  after  all,  some 
other  country  beside  their  own  on  the  globe.  As  there 
are  many  beautiful  objects  in  nature  that  we  do  not  ad 
mire,  because  we  do  not  see  them,  we  are  iguorant  of 
them,  so  there  are  good  and  great  people  in  all  nations 
that  we  do  not  love,  because  we  are  not  acquainted  with 
them.  Intercourse  with  mankind  must,  therefore,  liberal 
ize  our  views  and  remove  many  of  our  prejudices.  In 
this  point  of  view,  the  Congress  of  Nations  at  the  World's 
Fair,  where  the  various  improvements  in  the  modes  of 
agriculture,  methods  of  education,  and  uses  of  the 
mechanical  arts  were  exhibited,  did  much  good.  And  as 
the  knowledge  of  different  nations  is  mutually  extended, 
so  may  they  be  bound  together  in  bonds  of  mutual 
respect,  affection  and  interest.  Every  ship  that  plows  her 
way  from  this  port  to  the  seas  of  the  Flowery  Kingdom, 
is  a  chain  that  draws  the  two  continents  nearer  and  nearer 


THE      COMMERCIAL      SPIRIT.  125 

to  one  another.  Every  new  trail  of  the  hunter  over  the 
mountains  ;  every  new  path  blazed  through  the  forest  by 
the  buckskinned  pioneer  to  his  log  cabin  on  the  hill  side, 
and  every  sod  that  is  turned  up  by  the  spade  or  the  plow, 
and  every  stream  that  is  harnessed  and  put  to  work  at  the 
mill,  and  every  railroad  and  telegraph  wire  that  is  stretch 
ed  across  this  great  continent,  is  a  band  of  iron  binding 
the  different  races  and  portions  thereof  more  firmly 
together. 

Among  the  dangers  growing  out  of,  and  in  some  meas 
ure  inseparable  from  the  amplitude  of  our  commercial 
transactions,  are  RECKLESS  SPECULATIONS.  Men  are  now 
found  who  play  with  ships,  land  lots,  and  "  water  lots" 
that  can  not  be  confined  by  stakes,  and  ingots  of  gold,  as 
with  dice ;  invoices,  rents  and  commissions  are  staked  at 
the  gambling  table,  and  even  legitimate  business  is  pur 
sued  as  a  game  of  chance.  And  of  near  a-kin  to  this 
demoralizing  speculation,  is  the  tendency  of  the  day  to 
bring  down  every  thing  to  the  level  of  the  market.  The 
Rule  of  Faith  on  'change  is  the  Rule  of  Three,  and  the 
Rule  of  Practice  is — will  it  pay  ? 

ANOTHER  DAN  GEE  is  THE    TOTAL   ABSORPTION   OF  THE 

FINEST  AND  BEST  FEELINGS  IN  A  COLD  AND  NARROW  SELF 
ISHNESS. — It  is  a  natural  law  of  the  mind,  that  in  pro 
portion  to  the  strength  with  which  it  is  fixed  upon  any 

one  object,  it  will  be  drawn  from  all  other  objects.     There 
11* 


126  MORAL     INFLUENCE     OF 

is  danger  then  that  the  mind,  absorbed  in  the  magnitude 
and  progressiveness  of  commerce,  will  be  withdrawn  too 
much  from  higher  and  nobler  things.  The  claims  of  God 
and  man,  of  body  and  soul,  of  family  and  society,  are  too 
often  neglected  through  an  intense  application  to  business. 
Perhaps  such  men  think  or  say — this  is  true ;  but  we 
can  not  help  it;  it  must  be  so.  The  vessel  is  to  be 
steered  over  dangerous  seas  and  threatening  rocks,  and 
under  the  lowering  clouds  that  may  break  over  it  at  any 
moment.  The  pilot  must,  therefore,  ever  be  at  the  helm. 
This  may  be  so  sometimes.  But  is  it  not  often  allowed 
to  interfere  with  the  improvement  of  the  mind  and  heart 
when  there  is  no  absolute  necessity  for  it?  Is  it  not  the 
making  haste  to  be  rich,  that  dares  not  look  up  to  heaven, 
and  dares  not  take  time  to  bend  the  knee  in  fervent  sup 
plications  for  divine  blessings,  rather  than  the  pursuits  of 
a  legitimate  and  well  regulated  commerce  that  absorbs 
the  mind  and  draws  it  from  mental  and  social  recreations  ? 
Would  it  not  be  a  gain  to  your  families  and  to  society, 
and  to  business  in  general,  if  there  was  more  reading,  and 
more  domestic  enjoyment  among  merchants  and  business 
men  ?  Would  it  not  be  a  great  guide  to  healthfuluess 
both  of  body  and  heart,  if  the  mind  were  more  perfectly 
drawn  from  the  trammels  of  office,  and  allowed  to  escape 
to  the  library  and  the  picture-gallery,  or  to  enjoy  the 
sweetness  of  domestic  repose  ?  There  is  great  danger  of 


THE     COMMERCIAL     SPIRIT.  127 

mental  contraction  in  our  day.  The  horizon  of  some 
men's  minds  is  so  fearfully  knit  together  at  the  corners  by 
rent-rolls,  per  cents.,  and  deposits,  that  they  live  and  move 
and  have  their  entire  being  in  a  hogshead,  a  ship,  a  house, 
or  a  bag  of  gold.  Several  thousand  of  such  souls  may  be 
baled  up  in  a  single  package,  and  leave  sufficient  room  to 
breathe.  So  intently  and  strongly  do  they  gaze  upon 
their  gains,  that  while  they  have  no  range  without,  and 
never  lift  a  telescope  to  the  glories  of  the  vast  Universe, 
they  resort  to  the  microscope  to  see  how  fast  the  grains 
increase  their  "  pile."  Multitudes  of  men,  who  might 
with  proper  mental,  moral,  and  social  discipline,  have 
grasped  the  world  of  science,  and  the  wealth  of  history, 
and  "  walked  in  the  starry  way  of  intelligence,  and  have 
gone  up  to  the  highest  places  of  spiritual  enjoyment,"  are 
groveling  like  worms  in  the  dust,  and  in  a  circle  of  ex 
ceedingly  small  dimensions.  They  turn  their  meals  into 
seasons  of  calculation,  and  their  homes  into  counting- 
houses.  So  terrible  is  the  despotism  of  the  heart  once 
yielded  to  the  love  of  money,  that  there  are  not  wanting 
some  who  would  blast  down  Mount  Sinai  for  lime  or  for  a 
railroad  track,  if  its  stock  could  be  made  to  pay  ten  per 
cent.  0  !  there  is  terrible  injustice  and  cruelty  upon  the 
father  of  a  family,  who  allows  his  business  to  rob  them  of 
what  is  beyond  the  price  of  all  merchandise — high  moral 
culture  and  religious  elevation.  What  if  a  man  does  gain 


128  MORAL     INFLUENCE     OF 

wealth  for  his  children,  and  go  down  to  the  grave  with 
the  approbation  of  -his  fellow-citizens  as  a  successful, 
honest  merchant,  and  still  leaves  them  without  a  mental 
or  moral  capacity  to  profit  by  it,  and  to  enjoy  or  do 
good  with  his  wealth?  The  case  is  a  painful  one,  but 
it  is  often  seen.  The  absorbed  father  with  his  heart  and 
mind  filled  with  the  objects  and  affairs  of  every  day, 
returns  late,  wearied  and  worn,  yet  anxious  for  the  mor 
row,  and  utterly  unfit  for  the  holy  duties  of  his  office 
as  the  head  and  priest  of  his  household.  The  rest  of 
the  Sabbath  comes  in  vain.  The  exhaustion  of  the  week 
hangs  over  it,  so  that  it  is  not  a  day  of  recreation  or 
improvement,  much  less  a  foretaste  of  that  rest  which 
remaineth  for  the  people  of  God.  The  commercial  spirit 
of  our  day  is  so  incessant,  so  unrelaxing  in  its  demands 
upon  mind,  time,  and  strength,  that  it  cuts  off  opportu 
nities  and  even  strength  for  the  proper  consideration  of 
higher  objects.  Now,  fellow-citizens,  it  is  with  such  views 
of  commerce,  its  mighty  influence  and  the  progress  of 
mind  of  which  it  is  both  a  fruit  and  an  exponent,  and  at 
the  same  time  aware  of  the  dangerous  tendency  of  the 
absorbing,  ubiquitous  spirit  of  trade  in  our  day,  that  wise 
and  good  men  in  this  and  other  cities  have  established 
Mercantile  Library  Associations,  and  have  sought  to 
awaken  attention  to  the  high  morals  of  commerce,  and  to 
diffuse  intelligence  and  sound  principles  among  the  masses 


THE     COMMERCIAL     SPIRIT.  129 

of  men  engaged  in  trade.  It  is  chiefly  owing  to  the  efforts 
of  the  agents,  committees,  lectures,  and  publications  of 
such  institutions  in  Great  Britain,  that  the  hours  of  busi 
ness  have  been  so  shortened  as  to  give  young  men  em 
ployed  in  manufactures  and  counting-houses  opportunities 
for  repose,  for  instruction,  and  for  moral  and  religious 
cultivation.  It  is  in  the  example  of  heads  of  business 
houses,  in  the  annunciations  of  Chambers  of  Commerce, 
and  in  the  lectures  and  libraries  of  Mercantile  Associations 
that  we  see  the  power  to  awaken  and  spread  abroad  such 
a  moral  spirit  as  may  elevate  society,  and  make  the  gains 
of  commerce  contribute  to  national  prosperity.  The 
purity  of  the  conscience  of  our  commerce  is  the  tower  of 
our  strength.* 

The  right  reading  of  the  brave  old  nations  of  yore, 
shows  that  as  the  idea  of  supernatural  beings  was  lifted 
off  from  their  minds,  they  became  gross  and  stupid.  "  As 
Jupiter  vanished  out  of  their  sky,  conscience  faded  in  the 
heart."  As  a  sense  of  the  presence  of  Divine  beings  and 
of  a  personal  accountability  hereafter  for  the  deeds  of 
this  life  became  feeble,  and  a  dull  and  dreary  Atheistic 
night  shut  down  on  their  vision,  so  their  energies  died  out/ 
and  the  darkness  of  falsehood  and  of  ignorance  settled 
over  them  in  terrible  gloominess.  Kings  may  confederate 
and  sow  the  earth  with  dragon  blood ;  but  "  God  makes 
*  See  Appendix  P. 


130  MORAL      INFLUENCE      O  F 

facts."  And  all  God's  facts  are  revelations  speaking  of  a 
glorious  future  for  man.  Happy  the  day,  when  commerce 
that  swings  the  great  hammer — "  the  Miollnir  of  Thor" — 
shall  have  broken  the  mountains  of  tyranny  to  pieces ; 
and  when  the  spirit  of  commerce,  itself,  and  the  toiling  of 
the  field,  shop,  and  mill,  shall  be  baptized  into  the  spirit 
of  Peace.  Then  will  the  iron  of  the  mountains  be  beaten 
into  railroads  and  plows,  and  not  into  muskets,  shells, 
and  sabers  ;  and  our  great  ships  shall  be  the  messengers  of 
plenty  and  joy,  and  not  be  the  floating  batteries  of  death 
and  woe.  Happy  the  day  when  on  earth's  every  high 
place,  the  Janus  temple  of  the  Cross  shall  point  its  soiled,, 
dust-worn  and  weary  millions  to  glory  and  immortality, 
and  the  din  of  our  great  cities  shall  be  mingled  with  the 
holy  music  of  the  Gospel. 

The  nature  of  our  population  and  our  local  influences, 
render  such  an  Institution  as  this,  more  important  to  us, 
perhaps,  than  to  any  other  city  in  the  world.  A  large 
proportion  of  our  population  are  young  men  who  have 
some  knowledge  of  the  world  and  of  books — young  men 
of  enterprise  and  noble  daring — who  are  just  entering 
upon  the  active  pursuits  of  life,  far  away  from  home 
influences,  and  often  placed  under  strong  temptations  to 
vice.  This  Association  throws  open  to  them  its  doors  and 
its  thousands  of  selected  volumes.  It  is  intended  to  con 
tinue  their  education  which  was  begun  at  home — to  culti- 


THE     COMMERCIAL     SPIRIT.  131 

vate  the  mind,  and  so  elevate  the  heart  that  it  will  scorn 
vice  and  bear  misfortunes. 

In  the  libraries  of  this  Society,  they  will  find  friends 
that  no  adversity  can  alienate  and  gain  ornaments  for 
society  more  precious  than  rubies.  Here  the  young  man 
from  home  may  find  solace  in  a  weary  hour,  and  acquire 
knowledge,  that  will  dissipate  prejudice,  overthrow  super 
stitious  fears,  chasten  vice,  guide  virtue,  and  give  grace 
and  government  to  genius.  In  building  up,  therefore, 
this  useful  and  noble  Institution,  you  throw  around  young 
men,  at  a  most  critical  period  of  their  lives,  the  example 
of  intelligent,  and  high  moral  business  men ;  and  you 
promote  harmony  and  good  feeling  among  citizens,  and 
contribute  to  elevate  the  standard  of  public  morals. 


APPENDIX, 


APPENDIX  A. — PAGE  28. 

THE   ARMY   OF   THE    WAREHOUSE. 


Lord  Stafford  mines  for  coal  and  salt ; 
The  Duke  of  Norfolk  deals  in  malt, 
And  the  Douglass  in  red  herrings." 


HALLECK. 


The  lords  of  the  mill,  of  the  mines,  and  of  the  counting- 
room,  now  build  castles,  and  sway  a  scepter  more  power 
ful  than  that  of  the  old  baronial  halls.  Feudalism  has 
paled  before  king  cotton  and  the  steam  engine.  It  is  at 
the  Bourse,  or  on  the  Exchange,  that  war  is  declared,  or 
peace  concluded.  In  the  Chronicles  of  England,  just  be 
fore  the  passage  of  the  Reform  Bill,  it  is  written : 

"The  Duke  of  Wellington  was  quite  prepared  with 
Scotch  Greys,  with  rough-ground  swords  and  the  like,  to 
bolster  up  the  abuses  of  the  Church  and  State ;  he  was 
prepared  to  make  the  Bank  bristle  with  bayonets,  and  re 
pel  any  attack  on  it  with  armed  bands ;  but  men  began 
to  present  checks  in  undue  abundance,  and  ask  for  gold  in 
exchange  for  notes.  Frightened  Directors  told  the  Duke 
that  the  Bank  could  not  stand  the  monetary  siege  twenty- 
four  hours  longer ;  and  the  old  soldier,  finding  that  there 
were  powers  in  society  not  dreamed  of  in  his  gunpowder 
philosophy,  saw  immediately  that  he  must  give  way  to 
more  pacific  counsels." 


APPENDIX  B. — PAGE  44. 

EEPUBLICS   AND   LETTERS. 

"  It  would  seem,"  says  Dr.  Vaughan,  in  his  volume  on 
great  cities,  "  to  be  the  notion  of  some  men  that  where 
there  is  no  high  hereditary  class,  possessing  large  heredi 
tary  wealth,  there  can  be  no  successful  cultivation  of  art, 
or  of  intelligence  of  any  kind,  in  their  higher  forms.  But 
the  slightest  acquaintance  with  the  history  of  ancient 
Greece  should  have  sufficed  to  prevent  such  an  error.  It 
may  well  be  doubted,  if  the  world  would  hitherto  have 
seen  such  an  age  as  that  of  Augustus,  or  that  of  Louis 
XIV.,  if  it  had  not  previously  seen  the  age  of  Pericles.  It 
is  a  remarkable  fact,  and  one  which  the  class  of  persons 
adverted  to  would  do  well  to  consider,  that  the  States  of 
Greece,  which  knew  nothing  of  hereditary  distinctions, 
which  were  not  possessed  of  large  wealth,  which  consisted 
of  so  many  city  communities,  and  were  pervaded  generally 
by  the  spirit  of  Republicanism,  colonization,  and  com 
merce — that  it  was  given  to  those  states  to  supply,  to  all 
subsequent  time,  the  highest  models  of  the  wonderful  in 
science  and  art,  models  which  the  proudest  empires  have 
done  well  to  imitate,  which  they  have  rarely  equaled,  and 
never  surpassed."  P.  133. 

Dr.  Vaughan  is  an  Englishman,  and  can  not  be  sup 
posed  to  be  prejudiced  in  favor  of  republican  institutions. 


REPUBLICS     AXD     LETTERS.  137 

He  is  one  of  the  ablest  writers  of  Great  Britain.  His 
work  on  cities  is  worthy  of  attention  from  all  who  seek  in 
formation  as  to  their  influence  on  the  various  departments 
of  human  industry.  But  it  is  not  only  in  Greece  that  we 
find  a  Republic  the  home  and  patron  of  Letters  and  of  the 
Fine  Arts.  CARTHAGE,  PALMYRA,  and  ROME  in  her  great 
est  power,  as  well  as  ATHENS,  were  Republics.  And 
FLORENCE  rose  out  of  the  wreck  of  the  dark  ages  essen 
tially  a  republican  city.  It  became  distinguished  as  the 
home  of  rich  traders  and  manufacturers,  as  well  as  the 
asylum  of  the  arts.  The  extraordinary  wealth  of  the 
Florentines  flowed  from  their  numerous  manufactures  at 
home,  and  their  trade  and  banking  speculations  carried  on 
by  their  merchants  abroad.  Their  most  important  manu 
factures  were  in  silks,  woolens,  and  jewelry.  Every  citi 
zen,  to  be  eligible  to  office,  was  required  to  have  his  name 
on  the  rolls  of  one  or  other  of  the  Trades.  DANTE  had 
his  name  put  down  as  an  apothecary,  but  he  never 
practiced  his  profession.  And  so  numerous  were  the  in 
fluential  traders  of  Florence  residing  abroad,  that  when 
Pope  Boniface  VIIL,  after  his  election,  received  the  con 
gratulatory  addresses  of  foreign  states,  twelve  of  the  en 
voys  accredited  to  him,  were  citizens  of  Florence  ;  on 
which  Boniface  exclaimed,  "  The  Florentines  constitute 
the  fifth  element  of  creation !"  And  Roscoe  says,  "  The 
freedom  of  the  Italian  governments,  and  particularly  that 
of  Florence,  gave  to  the  human  faculties  their  full  ener 
gies."  It  was  in  their  cities,  the  labors  of  the  painter  and 
the  statuary  were  early  associated  with  the  mysteries  of 
religion  as  it  then  prevailed,  and  the  wealth  and  ostenta 
tion  of  individuals  and  of  states,  held  out  rewards  suffi 
cient  to  excite  the  endeavors  even  of  the  phlegmatic  and 
the  indolent.  And  in  our  day,  where,  but  among  our 

12* 


138  APPENDIX. 

trading  cities  can  we  find  a  Florence  ?  And  who  but  our 
merchant  princes  are  our  Medici?  Where  were  our  be 
nevolent  enterprises,  and  our  schools,  asylums,  libraries  and 
universities,  but  for  our  Perkinses,  Lawrences,  and  com 
mercial  benefactors  ? 

It  has  been  well  said  by  Rosooe  "  that  those  periods  of 
time  which  have  been  most  favorable  to  the  progress  of 
Letters  and  Science  have  generally  been  distinguished  by 
an  equal  proficiency  in  the  arts."  (Life  of  Lorenzo  de 
Medici,  p.  306.) 

The  revival  of  letters,  arts,  and  commerce,  was  cotem- 
poraneous  in  Italy.  They  are  still  respectively  cause  and 
effect.  Nor  can  any  one  of  the  great  branches  of  human 
art  or  industry  flourish  segregated  from  the  rest. 


APPENDIX  C. — PAGE  64. 

COMMERCE    CONQUERING. 

" Whose  sounding 

O'er  the  whole  earth  is  echoing  and  rebounding." 

MOBGASTTE  MAGGIOBE. 

BAYARD  TAYLOR  tells  us  that  our  national  airs  are  heard 
in  the  jungles  of  India  and  on  the  slopes  of  the  Himmala- 
yas.  There  is  not  a  nook  or  corner  of  Asia  or  Africa,  and 
but  few,  if  any,  of  the  remote  islands  of  the  sea,  where  the 
traveler  does  not  now  find  the  manufactured  goods  of  Eu 
rope  and  America.  One  of  the  great  distinctive  features 
of  our  day  is  the  goings  forth  of  the  trade  of  Christian 
nations.  And  its  influence  in  elevating  society  and  sup 
plying  human  wants  justly  entitles  it  to  its  pre-eminence. 
Compared  with  a  recent  past,  the  present  attainments  of 
human  industry  are  an  astonishing  spectacle.  But  what 
are  the  highest  conquests  of  the  present  to  those  of  the 
rapidly  coming  future  ?  The  progress  of  coming  years 
will  be  in  geometrical  ratio.  The  day  of  discoveries  and 
inventions  is  by  no  means  past.  There  is  a  great  future 
still  before  the  Church  on  earth,  and  for  our  race  on  this 
planet.  BRISBANE,  in  a  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Derby,  in  Lin- 
gard,  the  Roman  Catholic  historian  of  England,  says, 
"  that  the  trade  of  England  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  was 
at  such  a  height  that  it  is  as  hard  to  think  it  can  continue 


140  APPENDIX. 

so,  as  it  was  to  believe  once.it  would  ever  rise  to  it," 
Think  of  the  trade  of  England  under  Charles  II.  and  her 
Majesty  Queen  Victoria!  What  would  Brisbane  think 
could  he  write  a  letter  now  to  the  present  Earl  of  Derby 
about  clipper  ships  and  steamers  ?  The  progress  made 
now  in  seven  years  in  all  the  industrial  departments  of  the 
great  Protestant  nations  of  the  earth  exceeds  that  of  any 
previous  period  of  the  same  duration  ;  and  I  fancy,  whether 
our  physical  constitution  changes  every  seven  years  or  not, 
that  great  changes  will  take  place  in  the  affairs  of  the 
world  as  often  as  once  in  every  seven  years  henceforward, 
and  I  hope  always  for  the  advance  of  truth.  If  we  may 
judge  from  the  history  of  America  and  Australia,  all  sav 
age  nations  will  become  extinct.  Wealth  will  prevail  over 
the  destitute.  The  commercial  races  will  always  succeed 
at  last  in  buying  out  or  conquering  their  savage  neighbors. 
No  other  issue  is  possible,  unless  they  adopt  the  arts  of 
their  trading  and  conquering  neighbors.  The  savage 
races  in  contact  with  the  civilized  must  submit,  either  to 
be  swept  away,  or  adopt  the  arts  of  civilization. 


,•"* 


APPENDIX  D. — PAGE  64. 

THE     CRADLE    OF    OUR    RACE. 

IN  view  of  the  theories  put  forth  in  our  day  by  some  of 
our  savans,  it  may  be  of  use  to  remember  what  eminent 
European  scholars  have  said  on  the  origin  of  the  human 
races. 

HEEBEN  tells  us  explicitly  that  Central  Asia  u  from  the 
earliest  times  has  been  regarded  as  the  magazine  of  our 
race.  And  the  further  back  we  go  into  the  history  of  the 
first  ages  of  the  world,  the  more  probable  does  it  appear 
that  the  whole  of  Western  Europe  received  its  population 
from  thence"  (Central  Asia).* 

And  in  many  other  places  in  his  volumes  of  "  Historical 
Researches  into  the  Politics,  Intercourse,  and  Trade,  of  the 
Principal  Nations  of  Antiquity,"  does  this  great  historian 
and  profound  scholar  express  his  opinion  that  the  interior 
of  Central  Asia  is  the  place  whence,  both  east  and  west, 
the  human  races  were  dispersed.  It  is  a  singular  fact  that 
as  far  as  any  traditions  are  known  to  exist  among  the  ab 
origines  of  this  continent  and  the  far  east,  that  they  all 
agree  substantially  in  claiming  their  origin  from  the  same 
portion  of  the  globe.  And  history  points  us  with  unerring 
certainty  to  the  fact,  that  great  periodical  emigrations  of 
tribes  and  nations  have  taken  place  from  east  to  west, 
*  Heeren's  Asiatic  Nations,  vol  ii.,  p.  4. 


142  APPENDIX. 

and  from  Central  Asia  to  the  further  East.  It  was 
national  pride  that  caused  some  of  the  ancients  to  call 
themselves  autocthones,  or  natives  of  their  soil,  for  their 
national  traditions  and  histories  testified  to  the  con 
trary.  And  if  it  be  admitted  that  it  is  in  India  and  Egypt 
that  we  find  man  first  advanced  in  civilization — that  we 
first  find  extraordinary  progress  in  science  and  architect 
ure,  agriculture,  and  in  laws  and  in  judicial  proceedings, 
it  only  proves  that  there  man  first  established  himself 
under  such  favorable  circumstances  as  enabled  him  to  de 
velop  his  mental  faculties  in  the  useful  and  elegant  arts. 
Dr.  Latham,  in  his  work,  "  Man  and  his  Migrations,"  and 
in  his  larger  work,  "  The  Natural  History  of  the  Varieties 
of  Man,"  substantially  sustains  these  views.  And  Col 
onel  Smith  says  : 

"  There  is  constantly  a  record  of  antecedent  existence, 
though  not  a  history,  among  early  nations.  It  is  various 
ly  told,  but  not  the  less  the  same  in  substance,  in  both 
hemispheres,  and  in  the  South  Sea  islands.  Although  in 
Central  Asia,  no  very  distinct  evidence  of  a  general  dilu- 
vian  action,  so  late  as  to  involve  the  fate  of  many  nations, 
can  be  detected,  still  there  can  not  be  a  doubt  that,  with 
scarce  an  opposable  circumstance,  all  man's  historical  dog 
matical  knowledge  and  traditionary  records,  all  his  acquire 
ments,  inventions,  and  domestic  possessions,  point  to  that 
locality,  as  connected  with  a  great  cataclysis,  and  as  the 
scene  where  human  development  took  its  first  most  evident 
distribution.  West  of  central  Asia,  all  records  agree  in 
pointing  to  the  East  for  the  direction  whence  nations  mi 
grated."* 

It  is  a  singular  coincidence  also,  as  to  man's  primeval 

*  Lieutenant  Colonel  Charles  Hamilton  Smith's  Natural  History 
of  the  Human  Species,  pp.  109,  110,  218. 


THE     CKADLE     OF     OUK     KACE.  143 

location,  that  all  "  our  historical  dogmatic  knowledge  and 
traditionary  records"  not  only  as  to  man  himself,  but  also 
as  to  the  source  of  the  animals,  fruits,  birds,  and  inven 
tions  that  have  accompanied  him  in  his  migrations,  should 
all  point  to  the  same  locality.  The  animals  subdued  for 
household  purposes — like  the  dog,  ox,  ass,  camel  and 
horse,  sheep  and  goats,  and  hirds,  and  fruit-bearing  trees 
and  shrubs,  and  the  wheat  and  barley  of  our  fields — 
should  all  historically  and  by  tradition  point  to  Central 
Asia  as  the  place  where  they  were  first  domesticated,  and 
whence  they  have  been  dispersed  over  the  globe.  "  Even 
the  LOTUS,  celebrated  in  Egypt,  was  derived  from  some 
part  of  India."  The  evidence  in  our  day  has  become  com 
plete,  that  even  Egypt  was  connected  with,  and  dependent 
on  Asia,  for  the  beginning  of  its  colonies,  and  the  origin 
of  its  civilization.  In  the  monumental  records  of  the  Nile, 
many  objects,  living  plants  and  shrubs,  carefully  transport 
ed  for  replanting,  and  also  animals  and  other  objects  of 
value  offered  as  tribute,  "  are  evidently  from  an  eastern 
region."  The  religion  of  Egypt  was  closely  allied  to  that 
of  India,  though  no  doubt,  both,  after  their  separation, 
were  modified  by  revolutions,  innovations,  and  the  success 
ive  incorporations  of  foreign  elements.  Colonel  Smith 
informs  us  that  the  British  sepoys,  forming  a  part  of  Gen 
eral  Sir  R.  Abercombie's  expedition  for  the  re-conquest  of 
Egypt,  "  no  sooner  entered  the  ancient  temples  in  the  val 
ley  of  the  Nile,  than  they  asserted  their  own  divinities 
were  discovered  on  the  walls,  and  worshiped  there  ac 
cordingly.  They  even  pointed  out  the  Cresvaminam,  or 
Brahmin  distinguishing  cord,  as  likewise  a  decoration  of 
the  painted  divinities." 


APPENDIX  E. — PAGE  64. 

CARTHAGE. 

WHETHER  Carthage  was  founded  by  Queen  Dido,  or  by 
Zorus  and  Carchedon,  is  of  but  little  concern  to  us.  The 
lessons  of  its  rise  and  fall  are  much  more  important.  It 
was  from  the  beginning  a  trading  city,  and  by  its  trade 
grew  to  opulence  and  power.  Its  wealth  was  the  product 
of  mines,  manufactures,  trade  both  by  land  and  water,  and 
its  fall  was  the  result  of  avarice  and  wealth  not  'employed 
in  productive  industry.  Her  caravans  passed  from  the 
Nile  to  the  Niger,  and  from  the  Deserts  of  Libya  her 
gates  were  crowded  with  camels.  Spain  was  to  Carthage 
what  Mexico  and  Peru  became  to  Castile  and  Leon. 
While  the  tribes  of  the  interior  were  farmers,  hunters,  and 
carriers  to  Carthage,  she  could  sustain  her  immense 
army  of  mercenaries,  but  with  the  decline  of  her  trade, 
her  ability  to  carry  on  war  declined  also.  The  settlement 
of  the  Phenicians  in  Africa  was  for  the  purpose  of  trade. 
Being  well  situate,  and  gaining  dominion  over  many  of 
the  normal  tribes,  and  a  footing  in  Sicily  and  Spain,  Car 
thage  soon  became  independent  of  Tyre.  It  is  said  by 
some  that  their  navigation  extended  round  the  African 
continent,  and  to  Iceland,  and  America.  Their  most  salu 
tary  influence  was  on  the  native  tribes,  whom  they  caused 
to  till  the  soil.  In  her  day  Carthage  was  the  center  of 

mmerce  and  one  of  the  greatest  cities  of  the  world. 


0  AH  Til  AGE.  14  j 

When  she  fell,  all  the  dominion  of  commercial  civilization 
over  the  tribes  of  Africa  ceased,  and  it  has  so  continued 
to  our  day.  It  is  only  of  late  years  that  even  an  attempt 
has  been  made  to  recover  what  was  lost  in  the  fall  of  Car 
thage.  She  was  the  only  center  of  Letters  and  of  Trade 
in  Africa.  Never  celebrated,  it  is  true,  for  her  literature, 
nor  was  she  wholly  without  libraries  and  authors.  SAL- 
LUST  informs  us  that  King  Hiempsal  had  a  collection  of 
Carthaginian  historians,  who  furnished  much  valuable  in 
formation  about  the  early  history  of  Africa.*  PLINY 
makes  mention  of  Juba's  African  Chronicles  gathered  from 
Punic,  Libyan,  Greek,  and  Latin  authorities,  which  work 
however  is  lost.  When  the  Romans  conquered  the  Car 
thaginians  they  gave  their  libraries  to  their  Numidian 
allies.  But  that  it  now  appears  as  a  chapter  in  a  wise 
Providence,  we  could  never  forgive  the  Romans  for  their 
selfishness  and  cold  blood  in  destroying  Carthage.  At 
her  fall,  the  world  lost  her  literature,  and  her  colonies  be 
yond  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  were  forgotten,  and  the 
key  of  their  discoveries  and  extensive  trade  was  lost  for 
ages.  Some  of  the  causes  that  contributed  to  her  fall 
were  the  means  of  extending  trade  and  kind  offices 
among  mankind.  We  have  already  stated  that  she  caused 
many  of  the  nomadic  tribes  of  northern  Africa  to  be 
come  agriculturists,  by  demanding  their  tribute  in  corn. 
This  was  a  great  blessing  to  her  and  to  them.  But  these 
tribes  never  loved  her.  They  were  always  ready  to  rise 
in  revolt  on  the  approach  of  an  enemy.  It  was  a  knowl 
edge  of  this  fact  that  made  two  Roman  generals  invade 
Africa  at  different  times  with  an  army  of  only  fifteen  thou 
sand  men.  It  was  a  great  error  in  her  policy  not  to  make 
friends  of  the  nations  she  conquered.  Another  cause  of 
*  De  bello  Jugurtha. 


146  APPENDIX. 

her  fall  was  the  immense  army  of  mercenaries  she  employed. 
Her  great  armies  were  composed  almost  entirely  of  foreign 
ers.     So  rich  was  Carthage  from  her  monopoly  of  trade, 
that  at  one  time,  almost  half  Africa,  and  Europe  were  in 
the  pay  of  this  rich  republic."*     Libyans,  Spanish,  Gallic, 
Celtic,  Greeks,  Moors,  Numidians,  Ligurians,  Italians,  Cam- 
panians,  and  Balearic   slingers  were    all   found   in   their 
armies.     At  one  time,  in  an   army  of  seventy  thousand 
men,  there  were  only  two  thousand  Carthaginians,  who 
were  the  sacred  legion,  or  body-guard  of  heavy-armed  in 
fantry  for  the  commanding  general.     In  one  of  their  great 
sea-fights  with  the  Romans,  they  employed  three  hundred 
and  fifty  galleys  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men, 
and  the  Romans  three  hundred  and  thirty  galleys  and  one 
hundred  and  forty  thousand  men.     By  the  employment  of 
hired  troops,  however,  the  way  of  trade  was  extended.     For 
as  distant  nations  learned  to  know  one  another  as  com 
rades  in  arms,  and  fought  as  allies  of  Carthage,  so  did  their 
gates  open  to  Carthaginian  traders.     And  her  merchants 
cemented  the  friendship  begun  by  national  alliances.     The 
same  results  followed  the  mingling  of  nations  in  Alexan 
der's  vast  armies,  and  from  the  wars  of  the  Crusades  ;  and 
similar  results  will  follow  the  alliances  of  the  present  war 
of  the  great  nations  of  Europe,  and  from  the  "  assemblage 
of  nations  at  universal  exhibitions  of  the  world's  industry." 
The  fall  of  Carthage  was  not,  however,  owing  altogeth 
er  to  her  hired  troops,  nor  to  the  revolt  of  her  nomadic 
tribes,  nor  to  the  power  of  her  rival,  Rome.     The  seeds  of 
her  decay  were  sown  before  this.     Her  decline  began  in 
two  great  abuses,  the  sale  of  the  highest  places,  which  was 
connected  with  bribery  and  elections,  and  in  the  accumu 
lation  of  several  high  offices  in  the  same  parson.     These 
*  Heeren,  Carthaginians,  p.  123, 


CARTHAGE.  ].(7 

abuses  led  to  gross  corruption,  centralization  and  factions, 
which  destroyed  the  Great  Republic  of  Africa.  It  was  by 
the  fierceness  of  party  spirit  fed  by  unscrupulous  dema 
gogues,  that  the  republic  was  overthrown.  A  nation 
united  in  itself  is  unconquerable.  A  brave  nation  can 
only  die  by  suicide  ;  but  the  most  mighty  are  an  easy  prey 
to  their  enemies  when  the  spirit  of  faction  prevails  over 
patriotism. 


APPENDIX  F. — PAGE  64. 

ACCURACY   OF   OLD   WRITERS. 

IT  is  clear  from  the  learned  labors  of  Heeren,  supported 
as  he  is  in  most  part  by  the  researches  of  Denham,  Clap- 
perton,  Lyon,  Oudney,  Hornemann,  Gau  and  others  more 
recent,  or  of  less  note,  that  much  more  credit  is  due  to 
what  the  ancients,  such  as  Pliny,  Appian,  Scylax,  Strabo, 
Livy,  Diodorus,  Polybius  and  Herodotus,  have  written  of 
Asia  and  Africa  than  has  generally  been  supposed.  And 
it  is  also  clear  that  a  much  greater  intercourse  was  carried 
on  between  the  nations  of  antiquity,  and  that,  in  fact,  they 
were  further  advanced  in  civilization,  than  has  been  gen 
erally  allowed.  There  are  sufficient  vestiges  still  remain 
ing  of  the  commercial  intercourse  that  once  existed  be 
tween  the  nations  of  the  interior  of  Africa,  to  show  that  it 
must  have  been  very  great,  and  that  their  commerce  was 
the  soul  of  whatever  life  they  had.  The  story  of  Bruce  is 
well  known.  Once  reputed  the  greatest  of  traveling  liars, 
he  is  now  restored  to  his  place  as  a  veracious  historian. 


APPENDIX  G. — PAGE  66. 

ANTIQUITY   OP    COMMERCE. 

SAIS,  Thebes,  Memphis,  Carthage,  and  Alexandria  have 
perished.  Ammonium  has  dwindled  into  the  insignificant 
Siwah,  and  Axum  and  Carthage  are  no  more.  But  it  was 
to  commerce  they  owed  their  existence,  their  magnifi 
cence,  and  their  splendor.  And  according  to  Heeren, 
CEYLON  was  the  principal  emporium  of  oriental  trade  for 
more  than  two  thousand  years.  It  is  certain  that  in  the 
Persian  era  there  was  an  active  commerce  carried  on  be 
tween  the  Greek  cities  on  the  Black  Sea,  and  all  the  in 
terior  of  Scythia,  north  and  east  from  Siberia  to  India. 
Different  caravan  routes  were  used,  and  cities  grew  up  at 
both  ends  of  these  routes,  and  large  depots  were  estab 
lished  on  the  way.  The  trade  of  these  consisted  of  corn, 
furs,  slaves  and  aromatics.  And  it  is  a  remarkable  fact, 
that  in  this  era,  the  interior  of  Scythia,  and  of  all  the 
countries  north  and  east  of  the  Black  Sea  and  by  the 
Caspian  Sea,  and  of  the  interior  of  north-eastern  Africa 
was  better  known  than  in  our  day.  The  Hindoos 
in  their  most  ancient  works  are  represented  as  a  com 
mercial  people.  Their  commodities  were  known  in  the 
markets  of  Phenicia,  Carthage,  Egypt  and  Babylon.  In 
the  Arabian  Nights,  and  in  the  Ramayana,  merchants 
appear  as  having  traveled  from  one  place  to  another,  and 


150  APPENDIX. 

all  over  the  world,  and  as  men  possessed  of  liberal  views 
high  rank,  and  of  the  highest  intelligence.  It  is  the  con 
clusion  of  Heeren,  supported  by  a  great  many  other  au 
thorities,  that  a  regular  chain  of  mercantile  nations 
extended  at  a  very  remote  day  from  China  to  India,  and 
to  the  Black  Sea,  and  to  the  nations  on  the  Mediterranean, 
and  also  to  Arabia  and  Egypt,  through  the  cities  of  the 
Indus,  the  Euphrates,  and  the  Red  Sea,  Gold  was  so 
plenty  that  iron  was  more  precious.  Their  armor,  and 
horses'  bridle-bits  were  plated  with  it,  or  made  of  it,  as 
also  many  of  their  vessels.  This  supports  several  allusions 
to  gold  in  the  Bible. 


APPENDIX  H. — PAGE  67. 

AUSTRALIA. 

THE  want  of  an  indented  sea  margin,  and  the  vast 
square  mass  of  inland  in  Australia,  and  the  barren  uni 
formity  of  its  scenery,  or  rather  the  want  of  scenery,  is  be 
lieved  by  some  writers  and  naturalists  to  be  the  cause  of 
the  degradation  of  its  aborigines.  And  the  gloom  of  its 
future  history  is  only  relieved  by  the  feet  that  it  is  now  in 
the  possession  of  a  race  who,  by  education  and  commer 
cial  energy  are  superior  to  the  accidents  of  physical  geog 
raphy.  These  facts,  if  admitted  as  facts,  and  applied  to  us 
are  much  in  our  favor.  We  are  possessed  of  every  thing- 
requisite  to  overcome  any  unfavorable  tendencies  that  may 
exist  in  any  part  of  our  domain.  We  have  a  vast  and 
variegated  sea  margin,  inland  and  transmarine  trade,  and 
an  endlessly  variegated  interior  scenery. 

A  glance  at  the  map  of  those  countries  distinguished 
for  their  civilization,  shows  that  their  extent  of  sea  coast 
has  called  out  their  ingenuity.  Sea-inlets,  adjacent  islands, 
and  transmarine  shores  have  been  found  favorable  to  en 
terprise  and  corporeal  exertion.  Witness  "the  isles  of 
Greece"  and  Scotland.  Facilities  of  intercourse  are  also 
promoted  by  a  general  proximity  to  the  great  highways 
of  nations. 


APPENDIX  I.  —  PAGE  69. 

ALEXANDER    THE 


So  intent  was  this  conqueror  to  render  the  union  of  his 
subjects  complete,  that  a  tablet  was  found  after  his  death, 
among  his  magnificent  plans,  containing  a  resolution  to 
build  several  new  cities,  some  in  Asia,  and  some  in  Europe, 
and  to  people  those  in  Asia  with  Europeans,  and  those  in 
Europe  with  Asiatics,  that  by  intermarriages,  and  exchange 
of  good  offices,  the  inhabitants  of  these  two  great  conti 
nents  might  be  gradually  molded  into  a  similarity  of  sen 
timents,  and  become  attached  to  each  other  with  mutual 
affection.  (Diod.  Sicul.,  lib.  xviii..,  c.  4.) 


APPENDIX  J. — PAGE  69  . 

MOHAMMED. 

IT  is  not  witliin  the  design  of  this  little  work  to  discuss 
the  rise  and  progress  of  Mohammedanism,  nor  to  settle  the 
question  as  to  whether  Mohammed  was  a  fanatic  or  a 
knave.  Our  countrymen,  Dr.  George  Bush  and  Washing 
ton  Irving  have  each  written  eloquently  and  learnedly  on 
the  life  and  doings  of  the  great  Arabian  prophet.  A  few 
items  seemed  call  for,  however,  in  illustration  of  the  re 
marks  made  in  the  second  lecture  on  the  trade  of  the 
Saracens  or  followers  of  Mohammed.  It  was  as  a  traveler 
and  merchant  that  the  founder  of  Islamism  acquired  the 
knowledge  and  means  to  make  himself  a  prophet.  At 
one  time  in  early  life  we  find  him  going  with  his  uncle 
Zobier  with  a  caravan  to  Yemen,  and  then  to  Syria.  And 
sometimes  with  the  same  uncle,  or  another  one,  engaged  in 
warlike  expeditions.  It  was,  however,  as  a  commercial 
agent  or  factor,  that  we  find  him  chiefly  employed.  His 
business  enlarged-  his  sphere  of  observation  both  of  men 
and  things,  and  gave  him  a  quick  insight  into  the  state  of 
human  affairs.  He  was  also  a  frequenter  of  the  great 
Mrs  held  at  Mecca,  which  were  common  before  he 
preached  the  new  faith.  These  fairs  were  not  merely  ex 
hibitions  of  trade,  but  sometimes,  like  the  games  of  Greece, 
they  were  also  poetical  contests  between  different  tribes. 
Poems  and  other  literary  compositions  were  read,  and 


154  APPENDIX. 

prizes  adjudged  to  the  victors,  and  the  prize  pieces  were 
treasured  up  in  the  archives  of  the  city.  At  the  fair  of 
Ocadh  seven  prize  poems  were  hung  up  as  trophies  in  the 
CAABA.  At  these  fairs  also  popular  traditions  were  re 
cited,  and  in  this  manner  various  religious  faiths  and  the 
legends  of  the  religions  of  remote  times  and  distant  coun 
tries  were  kept  afloat  in  Arabia.  And  thus  the  trade, 
religion,  and  letters  of  the  times  were  all  blended  together. 
Mohammed  married  the  widow  of  a  rich  merchant.  Her 
business  was  extensive  and  she  required  some  one  to  man 
age  it.  Mohammed  was  now  about  twenty-five  years  of 
age,  and  reputed  to  have  been  possessed  of  extraordinary 
beauty  and  engaging  manners. 

It  was  no  strange  thing,  therefore,  that  Mrs.  Widow  Cadi- 
jah  employed  him  to  conduct  her  caravans  to  Syria.  She 
promised  to  give  him  double  wages,  and  so  much  was  she 
pleased  with  his  management  of  her  affairs,  that  on  his 
return,  she  paid  him  double  the  amount  of  wages  agreed 
on.  And  after  sending  him  on  several  other  trading  ex 
peditions  to  Southern  Arabia,  she  rewarded  him  not  only 
with  double  wages,  but  with  herself.  Now  in  the  tradi 
tions  with  which  Mohammed  was  well  acquainted,  Hea 
then,  Hebrew,  and  Christian,  and  in  the  enlargement  and 
quickening  of  his  intellect  by  trade,  and  the  improvement 
of  his  manners  by  intercourse  with  men,  and  in  the  power 
of  his  wealth  and  of  his  mighty  connections,  and  the  in 
fluence  of  his  tribe,  on  the  one  hand,  and  in  the  fact  that 
the  whole  world  was  then  almost  overrun  with  idolatry 
both  Pagan  and  Christian  so  called,  on  the  other  hand, 
there  seems  to  be  no  difficulty  in  accounting  for  his  success 
in  preaching  the  Divine  unity  and  spirituality.  Similar 
causes  to  some  extent  will  explain  the  progress  of  Mor- 
monism.  Mormonism  is  not  really  a  new  religion.  It  has 


MOHAMMED.  155 

existed  in  all  ages ;  and  the  apathy  of  Christendom,  the 
deadness  of  the  churches,  the  neglect  of  the  temporal  well- 
being  of  the  masses  by  nominally  Christian  countries,  the 
appeal  made  to  the  poor  of  Europe  to  better  their  worldly 
condition  and  gain  political  rights  by  becoming  Mormons 
and  emigrating  to  this  country,  and  the  natural  selfishness 
and  corruption  of  man  are  quite  sufficient  to  account  for 
the  success  of  the  wicked  and  abominable  faith  established 
in  the  modern  Sodom  on  the  banks  of  the  American 
Dead  Sea. 

14 


APPENDIX  K. — PAGE  81. 

GOD    IN    TRADE. 

PROVIDENCE  Las,  in  a  most  remarkable  manner,  or 
dained  commerce,  and  given  TRADE  a  fixed  place  among 
the  laws  of  the  universe,  by  conferring  treasures  on  some 
portions  of  the  earth  that  others  have  not,  and  displayed 
supreme  goodness  and  wisdom  in  having  so  constituted 
the  races  of  men  that,  respectively,  they  do  not,  and  can 
not  exist  in  the  higher  and  best  states  of  civilization  with 
out  the  mutual  exchanges  of  the  products  of  the  different 
portions  of  the  globe,  and  the  exercise  of  the  kind  offices 
of  good  neighborhood,  and  reciprocal  GOOD  WILL.  "Nature 
compels  mankind  to  a  mutual  intercourse,  by  endowing 
even  the  desert  with  articles  necessary  for  human  exist 
ence."* 

Take  Africa  as  an  illustration  of  this  remark  of  Heeren. 
Salt  and  dates  are  two  great  essential  commodities  of  the 
Africans.  But  the  salt  pits  are  in  the  interior,  where  the 
date  does  not  grow.  And  gold  dust  is  not  found  where 
the  date  grows,  nor  where  the  salt  is  obtained.  And  so 
also  we  find  coal  and  cotton  usually  remote  from  each 
other,  and  the  precious  metals  alike  remote,  at  least  in 
large  quantities,  from  both.  It  is  thus  God  has  distrib 
uted  his  bounties  that  men  may  be  compelled  to  establish 
*  Heeren. 


GOD     IN     TRADE.  157 

a  mutual  intercourse.  It  is  thus  that  Providence  urges 
man  to  industry,  intercourse,  and  trade  ;  and  also  indi 
cates  by  the  course  of  rivers  and  mountains,  by  estuaries  and 
seas,  and  oases,  the  routes  or  channels  of  human  intercourse. 
In  large  portions  of  the  Old  World  the  great  routes  of 
travel  are  unchangeably  fixed.  But  for  the  oases  of  the 
deserts  large  regions  of  Asia  and  Africa  must  have  remained 
forever  unknown  to  man.  But  with  the  oases  God  has 
given  man  animals  that  can  sustain  great  heat,  carry  great 
burdens,  and  perform  tedious  journeys  without  water.  It 
is  the  God  of  all  mercies  who  both  dotted  the  sandy 
wastes  with  islands  as  resting-places  for  travelers,  and 
pointed  out  the  routes  by  which  human  intercourse  shall 
be  carried  on.  Hence  it  is  that  the  caravans  of  Africa  are 
.moving  along  to-day  the  very  same  routes  their  forefathers 
traveled  thousands  of  years  ago.  From  the  clays  of  Han 
nibal,  when  Carthage  monopolized  the  wealth  of  Africa,  to 
our  own,  there  has  been  but  little  changed  in  its  caravan 
routes.  The  same  route  is  pursued  now  between  Fezzan 
and  Upper  Egypt,  that  the  Garamantes  traveled  when  they 
hunted  for  men.  We  have  heard  of  late  years  a  great  deal 
of  "  God  in  Science,"  and  "  in  History."  This  is  all  right 
enough,  but  why  do  we  not  hear  something  also  of  God 
in  Commerce  ? 


APPENDIX  L. — PAGE  84. 

CONNECTION   OF   TRADE    AND    LETTERS. 

"  THE  more  the  refined  arts  advance,  the  more  sociable 
do  men  become;  nor  is  it  possible  that,  when  enriched 
with  science,  and  possessed  of  a  fund  of  conversation,  they 
should  be  contented  to  remain  in  solitude,  or  live  with 
their  fellow-citizens  in  that  distant  manner  which  is  pecu 
liar  to  ignorant  and  barbarous  nations.  They  flock  into 
cities;  love  to  receive  and  communicate  knowledge;  to 
show  their  wit  or  their  breeding  ;  their  taste  in  conversa 
tion  or  living ;  in  clothes  or  furniture.  Curiosity  allures 
the  wise,  vanity  the  foolish,  and  pleasure  both.  Particular 
clubs  and  societies  are  everywhere  formed;  both  sexes 
meet  in  an  easy  and  sociable  manner ;  and  the  tempers  of 
men,  as  well  as  their  behavior,  refine  apace.  So  that  be 
side  the  improvement  they  receive  from  knowledge  and 
the  liberal  arts,  it  is  impossible  but  they  must  feel  an 
increase  of  humanity  from  the  very  habit  of  conversing 
together,  and  contributing  to  each  other's  pleasure  and 
entertainment.  Thus  industry,  knowledge,  and  humanity 
are  linked  together  by  an  indissoluble  chain ;  and  are 
found,  from  experience  as  well  as  reason,  to  be  peculiar  to 
the  more  polished,  and  what  are  commonly  denominated 
the  more  luxurious  ages."  (Essay  on  Refinement  in  the 
Arts.) 


APPENDIX  M. — PAGE  90. 

« 

RISE   OF   POPULAR  LIBERTY   IN   CITIES. 

THE  history,  of  Europe  shows  that  with  the  granting  of 
charters  to  cities  soon  after  the  Crusades,  a  new  era  dawned 
in  regard  to  popular  liberty.  The  enlargement  of  ideas 
consequent  upon  the  Crusades  awakened  the  spirit  of  com 
merce,  especially  in  Venice,  Genoa,  and  Pisa,  and  wealth 
flowed  in  such  abundance  into  those  cities  that  they  were 
soon  able  to  secure  a  large  measure  of  liberty  and  inde 
pendence.  The  oppression  of  the  feudal  system  caused 
many  of  the  cities  of  Europe  to  form  themselves  into  com 
munities  or  corporations.  Dr.  Robertson  thinks  that  the 
granting  of  municipal  jurisdiction  to  the  cities  of  Europe  as 
bodies  politic  "  contributed  more  than  any  other  cause  to 
introduce  regular  government,  police,  and  arts,  and  to  dif 
fuse  them  over  Europe."  (Charles  V.,  View,  etc.,  p.  19.) 

But  it  was  the  advantages  of  commerce  that  first  led 
the  cities  of  Italy  to  think  of  shaking  off  the  yoke  of  feu 
dalism,  and  to  establish  among  themselves  such  a  free  and 
equal  government  as  would  render  property  secure  and 
industry  flourishing.  "  The  great  increase  of  wealth 
which  the  crusades  brought  into  Italy  occasioned  a  new 
kind  of  fermentation  and  activity  in  the  minds  of  the 
people,  and  excited  such  a  general  passion  for  liberty  and 
independence,  that  before  the  conclusion  of  the  last  Cru- 

14* 


160  APPENDIX. 

sade,  all  the  considerable  cities  in  that  country  had  either 
purchased  or  had  extorted  large  immunities  from  the  em 
peror,"  (Ib.)  The  same  immunities  were  soon  extended  to 
France  and  over  Europe.  And  so  jealous  were  the  cor- 
porated  cities  of  their  liberty,  that  if  any  slave  found 
refuge  in  any  one  of  them  and  was  not  claimed  for  a  year 
he  was  declared  a  freeman,  and  admitted  as  a  member  of 
the  community.  The  immediate  effects  of  the  rise  of  cor- 
porated  cities  and  of  their  leagues  against  the  violence  of 
the  feudal  lords,  were  that  industry  revived,  and  commerce 
began  to  flourish,  and  population  increased ;  and  wealth 
flowed  into  them ;  and  as  they  became  more  populous  and 
wealthy,  and  extended  their  intercourse  among  them 
selves,  and  into  foreign  countries,  it  became  more  and  more 
necessary  to  adopt  salutary  and  liberal  laws,  and  to  execute 
them  with  promptitude  and  integrity.  The  influence  of 
liberal  institutions  and  of  polished  manners  in  wealthy  cities 
was  of  course  soon  insensibly  diffused  through  the  rest  of 
society.  And  as  their  inhabitants  had  obtained  personal 
freedom,  and  municipal  jurisdiction,  so  they  soon  acquired 
civil  liberty  and  political  power.  To  the  entrance  of  the 
representatives  of  cities  into  the  legislatures  of  Europe 
must  we  ascribe  the  rise  of  popular  liberty  in  the  feudal 
kingdoms.  They  became  an  intermediate  power  between 
the  king  and  the  nobles,  and  the  guardians  of  civil  rights 
and  privileges.  "  Almost  all  the  efforts,"  says  Robertson, 
"  in  favor  of  liberty  in  every  country  of  Europe,  have 
been  made  by  the  representatives  of  cities  in  their  legisla 
ture."  This  fact  is  also  illustrated  in  the  rise  and  history 
of  the  cities  that  became  great  from  the  trade  of  the  Lom 
bards  carrying  the  treasures  of  the  East  to  the  Baltic.  (See 
the  History  of  the  Hanseatic  League). 


APPENDIX  N. — PAGE  91. 

PREJUDICE    AGAINST    COMMERCE. 

Trade  is  ordained  of  God.  Still  there  is  a  considera 
ble  prejudice  against  it.  The  Turks  are  strongly  preju 
diced  against  shop-keeping  and  tavern-keeping.  The 
Greeks  keep  their  hotels,  and  the  Armenians  and  Jews  do 
their  customs,  collecting  and  Bank-shaving.  Many  honest 
and  hard-working  people  in  Christian  countries  entertain 
also  a  kind  of  prejudice  against  merchants  and  traders,  as 
if  they  were  getting  their  living  by  their  arts,  rather  than 
by  their  work,  and  not  only  living  without  work,  but  liv 
ing  off  other  people.  It  is  considered  a  hardship  to  have 
to  work  to  raise  or  manufacture  articles  of  trade,  and  then 
that  somebody  else  should  make  a  living  better  than  ours 
merely  by  selling  our  articles.  But  in  the  long  run,  it  is 
found  best  there  should  be  a  division  of  labor  and  of  trades, 
and  that  things  should  be  in  these  matters  very  much  as 
they  are.  Such  affairs  are  like  water,  if  just  let  alone  they 
will  regulate  themselves,  and  find  their  true  level. 

This  prejudice  against  trade  is  not  confined  to  the  igno 
rant.  PLATO  taught  that  in  a  well  regulated  commonwealth 
the  citizens  should  not  engage  in  commerce,  nor  the  State 
aim  at  obtaining  maritime  power.  He  contended  that 
commerce  corrupts  the  purity  of  the  morals  of  the  citizens, 
and  the  sea-service  would  accustom  them  to  find  so  many 


162  APT  END  IX. 

pretexts  for  wrong-doing,  that  all  military  discipline  would 
be  destroyed,  and  every  manly  habit.  He  asserted  that  it 
would  have  been  better  for  the  Athenians  to  have  con 
tinued  to  send  annually  the  sons  of  seven  of  their  princi 
pal  citizens  to  be  devoured  by  the  Minotaur,  than  to  have 
changed  their  ancient  manners  and  have  become  a  mari 
time  power.  Aristotle  adopted  the  same  ideas.  Plato  says 
that  the  capital  of  the  perfect  republic  which  he  delineated 
should  be  situated  at  least  ten  miles  from  the  sea,  (De 
Legibus,  lib.  iv.) 


APPENDIX  0. — PAGE  91. 

LORENZO    DE    MEDICI. 

"  Those  are  to  be  esteemed  peculiarly  happy,  who,  having  improved  their 
minds  by  study,  can  withdraw  themselves  at  intervals  from  public  engage 
ments  and  private  anxiety,  and  in  some  agreeable  retreat  indulge  themselves 
in  ample  range  through  all  the  objects  of  the  natural  and  moral  world." — Eos- 
COE'S  "LOKENZO  DE  MEDICI,"  p.  07. 

A  WORD  more  may  be  allowed  about  this  great  man,  to 
whom  literature  owes  so  much  ;  and  this  the  more,  because 
in  him  we  find  a  happy  union  of  the  elegant  and  the  use 
ful  pursuits  of  life.  We  find  him  at  the  same  time  search 
ing  over  Italy  and  Greece  for  manuscripts,  and  seeking  to 
govern  his  own  city  and  to  preserve  the  peace  of  Italy, 
and  to  defend  Christendom  against  the  Turk.  And  we 
find  him  delighted  in  his  farm  and  library  and  with  his 
literary  associates ;  and  yet  his  cows  were  the  best  in  the 
world  ;  his  stables  remarkable  for  order  and  neatness  ;  his 
dairy  supplied  Florence  with  cheese,  so  that  they  were  no 
longer  obliged  to  procure  it  from  Lombardy  ;  and  his  hog.^ 
fed  by  the  whey  from  his  cheese  grew  to  a  remarkable 
size ;  and  his  poultry-yard  was  graced  by  peacocks,  and 
quails,  and  pheasants.  And  his  gardens  and  orchards,  and 
especially  of  mulberries,  were  so  extensive  that,  it  was  hoped 
the  price  of  silk  would  be  greatly  reduced.  And  yet  this 
is  the  man  to  whom  we  are  to  ascribe  in  a  great  degree 
the  revival  of  a  taste  in  Europe  for  the  works  of  the  an- 


164  APPENDIX 

cients,  and  the  establishment  of  public  libraries,  which  in 
their  turn  became  the  active  agents  of  further  movements 
in  the  world  of  science.  And  thus  had  God  ordained  that 
when  Constantinople  fell,  eastern  science  should  find  a  homo 
in  Italy — and  that  as  letters  were  flying  from  the  cimiter 
of  the  fierce  Mohammed  II.,  there  should  be  an  asylum 
for  them  at  the  foot  of  the  Alps.  This  is  the  man — this 
worker  in  mines,  this  overseer  of  farms,  and  this  factor  of 
goods ;  this  swine-raising,  cheese-making,  garden-planting 
patron  of  letters  and  of  the  fine  arts — that  is  represented 
as  the  father  of  all  such  as  dwell  in  the  tents  of  dilletant- 
ism,  or  dance  before  the  glass  of  nambypambyism. 

When  the  factors  and  correspondents  of  Lorenzo  de  Med 
ici  gave  him  so  much  trouble  by  their  incompetence  and 
negligence  that  he  closed  his  mercantile  concerns  and  re 
linquished  the  fluctuating  advantages  of  commerce  for  the 
more  certain  revenue  of  his  farms  in  Tuscany,  one  object 
he  had  in  view  was  that  he  might  enjoy  more  leisure  for 
pious  reading.  The  existence  and  attributes  of  God  were 
favorite  subjects  of  meditation  with  him.  Often  was  ho 
accustomed  to  say,  "  he  is  dead  even  to  this  life,  who  has 
no  hopes  of  another."  Often  did  he  discourse  eloquently 
of  the  insufficiency  of  temporal  enjoyments  to  fill  the  mind, 
and  of  the  probability  and  moral  necessity  of  a  future 
state. 

It  is  difficult  to  define  or  fully  conceive  how  much  we 
owe  to  those  who  in  past  ages  have  been  instrumental  in 
preserving  the  treasures  of  wisdom.  Such  collections  of 
manuscripts  and  of  books  as  were  gathered  on  the  founda 
tion  begun  by  the  Medici  are  the  SENSORIUM  of  our  race. 
They  were  torch-bearers  to  the  great  MARTIN  LUTHER  and 
his  co-laborers. 


APPENDIX  P. — PAGE  129. 

CONSCIENCE   IN  BUSINESS. 

MR.  JOHN  HIGGINSON  at  Salem,  Mass.,  in  1663  uttered 
the  following  potent  words  : 

"  My  brethren,  this  is  never  to  be  forgotten,  that  our 
New  England  is  originally  a  plantation  of  religion,  and  not 
a  plantation  of  trade.  Let  merchants,  and  such  as  are  mak 
ing  cent,  per  cent.,  remember  this.  Let  others  who  have 
come  over  since  at  several  times,  remember  this,  that 
worldly  gain  was  not  the  end  and  design  of  the  people  of 
New  England,  but  religion.  And  if  any  man  among  us 
make  religion  as  twelve,  and  the  world  as  thirteen,  let  such 
an  one  know  he  hath  neither  the  spirit  of  a  true  New  En 
gland  man,  nor  yet  of  a  sincere  Christian."  This  extract 
is  highly  suggestive.  It  is  true  that  New  England  was 
"  originally  a  plantation  of  religion,  and  not  a  plantation 
of  trade."  "  Freedom  to  worship  God,"  and  not  gain,  was 
the  chief  end  of  the  Puritan  colonists.  And  yet  where  on 
the  face  of  the  earth  has  the  gain  of  godliness  in  this  life 
been  more  speedily  and  munficently  realized  ?  It  may  be 
true  now  as  is  alleged,  that  we  are  a  money-loving  people 
— that  many  New  England  men  "  make  religion  as  twelve, 
and  the  world  as  thirteen,  but  it  is  also  true  that  our  fa 
thers  were  refugees  from  political  and  religious  persecution. 
They  were  led  by  faith.  And  if  some  of  their  descendants 


166  APPENDIX. 

have  lost  their  spirit,  it  does  not  follow  but  that  the  Sav 
iour  is  faithful  in  fulfilling  his  promise,  that  whosoever 
should  give  up  houses  and  lands  for  his  sake,  should  re 
ceive  an  hundredfold.  There  is  no  portion  of  this  conti 
nent  equal,  in  regard  to  actual  wealth,  to  that  settled  by 
New  England  men.  It  is  not  to  be  inferred  from  this 
statement,  that  wealth  is  in  itself  inconsistent  with  religion, 
nor  that  the  true  worldly  interests  of  a  man  require  him 
to  give  up  his  piety.  Without  doubt  a  merchant's  inter 
ests  lie  in  the  line  of  his  commercial  transactions.  It  con 
sists  in  his  invoices,  insurances,  commissions,  profits,  rent 
rolls,  and  bills  of  exchange.  But  is  this  all  ?  Was  not 
every  merchant  a  man  before  he  was  a  merchant  ?  And 
are  his  interests  as  a  man  sunk  in  his  interests  as  a  mer 
chant  ?  Does  the  merchant's  relation  to  his  money  rend 
asunder  his  relation,  as  a  man,  to  virtue  and  society,  social 
and  domestic.  Hath  not  God  joined  principle,  truth,  and 
duty  to  our  every  individuality  as  firmly  as  our  immortal 
ity  ?  The  philosophy  of  the  Bible,  brought  down  from 
heaven  to  the  counting-room,  teaches,  that  "inside  of 
every  merchant  there  is,  or  has  been,  and  ought  still  to  be, 
'  a  man.'  "  His  circumstances  may  have  been  favorable  to 
his  integrity,  or  the  reverse.  His  education,  and  habits, 
and  pursuits  may  be  varied,  almost  infinitely  so ;  but  in 
every  merchant  there  ought  still  to  be  a  man. 

It  is  as  short-sighted  a  policy  in  business  as  it  is  wicked 
in  the  sight  of  God  to  suppose  that  we  may  regard  our 
conscience  in  dealing  with  our  fellow-men  as  Frederic  II. 
is  said  to  have  considered  religion  in  a  king.  "  Religion," 
said  he,  "is  absolutely  necessary  to  the  well-being  of 
States,  and  he  is  not  a  wise  king  who  allows  his  subjects 
to  abuse  it ;  nevertheless,  he  is  not  a  wise  king  who  him 
self  has  any  religion  at  all."  But  how  does  the  merchant 


CONSCIENCE     IX     BUSINESS.  167 

expect  his  clerks  to  be  honest  with  him,  if  they  see  him 
cheating  his  customers  ?  Is  it  reasonable  for  the  fraudulent 
banker  to  expect  his  debtors  to  be  honest  to  him,  if  he  is  not 
honest  toward  his  creditors  ?  In  the  long  run,  as  we  meas 
ure  to  others,  it  is  measured  to  us  again.  "  A  rogue  in  grain 
becomes  a  rogue  in  spirit  in  every  thing."  It  is  thought, 
somehow  or  other,  by  some  people,  that  to  be  a  merchant  is 
to  pursue  such  a  calling  as  endangers  one's  integrity.  Dr. 
JOHNSON  said,  a  long  time  ago,  that  "  an  English  merchant 
is  a  newly-discovered  species  of  gentleman" — a  species 
that  live  without  work.  If  this  were  ever  true  of  English 
merchants,  it  is  not  true  now,  for  merchants  are  now 
hard  toilers.  Another  satirical  Englishman,  and  no  mean 
poet,  COWLEY,  says,  "  A  man  in  much  business,  must 
either  make  himself  out  a  knave,  or  the  world  will  make 
him  out  a  fool ;  and  if  the  injury  went  no  further  than  be 
ing  laughed  at,  a  wise  man  would  content  himself  with 
retaliation ;  but  the  case  is  much  worse,  for  these  civil 
cannibals,  as  well  as  the  wild  ones,  not  only  dance  round 
such  a  taken  stranger,  but  at  last  devour  him."  Now,  are 
these  derisive  and  severe  remarks  just  ?  Do  business  men 
deserve  them  ?  I  am  firmly  persuaded  to  the  contrary. 
Or  if  such  remarks  are  well-founded,  merchants  are  them 
selves  to  blame,  and  to  blame  either  because  they  do 
not  recognize  a  proper  standard  in  their  business,  or  if 
they  do,  they  do  not  live  up  to  it.  There  is  no  necessity 
for  wrong-doing  in  legitimate  trade.  There  may  be  as 
much  honesty  and  piety  among  merchants  as  among  any 
other  class  of  men.  Generally  they  are  like  Jeremiah's 
figs.  The  good  are  very  good,  and  the  bad  are  very  bad. 
In  trade,  as  among  military  men,  there  should  be  a  high 
standard  of  honor,  and  all  departures  from  it  should  be 
visited  with  deserving  penalties. 


168  APPENDIX. 

It  is  humiliating  to  hear  so  much  of  fraudulent  failures, 
false  swearing,  and  false  entries,  and  false  marking  of 
goods,  and  of  petty  villianies.  But  there  is  still  such  a 
thing  as  business  honor.  It  is  not  yet  laid  away  with  an 
tediluvian  fossils.  Yet  there  is  danger  of  adopting  a  mod 
ification  of  the  maxim,  that  "  honesty  is  the  best  policy." 
It  has  already  been  suggested  that  it  should  read,  "It  is 
not  always  the  best  honesty  which  is  the  best  policy."  For 
it  is  contended  that  a  great  merchant  is  made,  as  Lord 
Bacon  said  an  eminent  statesman  was,  by  "  the  union  of 
great  and  mean  qualities."  But  who  has  written  the 
Novum  Organum,  or  the  Principia,  or  the  "  Essay  on  Geo 
graphical  Distribution  of  Right  and  Wrong,"  that  demon 
strates  how  a  man  may  lay  aside  his  great  principles  when 
he  goes  to  his  place  of  business,  and  put  on  his  meanness 
as  he  does  his  office  coat  ?  Has  any  La  Place  discovered 
laws  by  which  it  is  established  that  an  act  that  is  base 
and  dishonorable  in  private  life  becomes  legitimate  on 
the  street,  or  in  the  Exchange  ?  A  good  conscience  in 
business  is  the  only  source  of  perennial  peace,  and  the 
more  extended  are  our  business  relations,  the  more  im 
portant  it  is  to  preserve  our  commercial  integrity  as  a 
people. 


14  DAY  USE 

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